I used early results, and those results did not accurately reflect the final results. My bad. According to todays paper, Arnold got 3,744,132 votes, and Davis got 3,562,487 votes. Arnold also got 48.6% of the total votes for Gov. Hardly a mandate, but a good showing. This indicates that Arnie could very likely weather an early recall- of course if he screws up, all bets are off. It also shows that Arnold (I am not going to type “Schwarzenegger” and his own campaign material used “Arnold” so…) could have possibly won a general election vs a Dem.
As to that, McClintock polled about a million votes, so if all of them had voted for Arnold the Governator would have had a small landslide. But they wouldn’t have- those votes represent the hardcore GOP right, who would never vote for a Pro-Choice candidate- who is also mostly pro-Gay rights and lukewarm on Gun Control.
John Mace- Well, yes, the “big guns” in the CA GOP did back Arnold- but only AFTER poll results showed clearly that McClintock would lose and Arnie had a very good chance of winning. No one out here thinks Arnold would have won a GOP primary. I don’t think Arnold even thinks so. Of course, winning the next Primary won’t be so hard, being an incumbent. Again, assuming the Governator doesn’t screw up. This does not indicate that CA will vote for Bush- unless somehow Bush become Pro-Choice, Pro-Gay rights, and etc. :dubious:
As to the 50% of the votes thing- both posters are right. In the last GENERAL Election, Davis did not have to win with 50% (in fact, despite a very poor showing by the GOP candidate, I am not sure he did). In this RECALL election, Davis needed 50% +1 vote to stay in.
Basicly in CA, the Dem party includes the center. The Center went over to Arnold, who is a very centrist candidate. The far right hardcore GOP voted for McClintock, and the Left voted for Bustamonte (and others). The Dems could have won if they had posited a Centrist Candidate (one suggestion was Bill Clinton!). But they only sort of vaguely got behind Bustamonte, who is Liberal.