In Your Heart, You Know He's . . .
BARNES, FRED
In Your Heart, You Know He's . . . Not really a conservative (but it may not matter). BY FRED BARNES RUSH LIMBAUGH, the king of talk radio, was one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's sharpest...
...But Brulte was so impressed by Schwarzenegger that he belatedly endorsed the recall and declared the press conference performance "perfect...
...California is the second-highest tax state in the country...
...If Schwarzenegger has a clear but not insurmountable lead over Bustamante, a Republican troika—Brulte, Republican state assembly leader Dave Cox, and state chair Duf Sundheim—will visit McClintock, Simon, and Peter Ueberroth, and urge them to drop out...
...At his press conference, he had total control over the gaggle of reporters...
...In one poll, their cumulative vote matched Schwarzenegger's...
...The question is whether conservative instincts on taxes and spending will capture enough Republican voters...
...Wilson, now co-chair of Schwarzenegger's campaign, was elected governor in 1990 and reelected in 1994 on basically four stands: fiscally conservative, tough on crime, proenvironment, and pro-abortion...
...Schwarzenegger, Limbaugh found, has the "potential to 'own' the state...
...I rolled my eyes when I heard this, but maybe it will work for Schwarzenegger...
...One reason, an aide said, was polling by his campaign that found a majority of voters didn't like a flat pledge...
...Reagan informed his advisers, not the other way around...
...Unstoppable perhaps, but not quite Reaganesque...
...Taxing "goes on all day long" in California, he said...
...And Limbaugh matters...
...A moderate Republican, he has crossover appeal to independents and some Democrats...
...A California bellwether is Jim Brulte, the Republican leader in the state senate...
...13's limit on property taxes...
...That leaves taxes and spending as the defining issue of Schwarzenegger's campaign...
...He fervently endorsed Prop...
...Conservative Republican voters are the key to Schwarzenegger's election Fred Barnes is executive editor of THE WEEKLY STANDARD...
...Schwarzenegger doesn't have to persuade conservatives he's one of them—which would be difficult, because he isn't— only that he's conservative enough...
...Limbaugh's warming ("I still have reservations") is a measure of Schwarzenegger's progress in courting conservative voters for the October 7 recall election...
...The answers are, one, he should let Republican leaders handle the other candidates at an appropriate time and, two, no...
...Reagan once said having been an actor came in handy in politics, and Schwarzenegger reenforced that point with his flawless performance...
...Reagan did not need two weeks of meetings with what basically amounted to coaching sessions to establish his core beliefs...
...If that holds, he'll lose...
...Then he added, "Stop, stop, stop, with the spending...
...The problem is that candidates who balk at a no-tax pledge, once in office, often wind up hiking taxes...
...Maybe it would be wise for the Terminator to steer clear of capital punishment...
...The new Reagan...
...But neither is a critical issue in the recall election—nor is crime...
...And though he was flanked by two intellectual heavyweights, investor Warren Buffett and former Secretary of State George Schultz, he used them essentially as props...
...Thus some conservatives may avoid Schwarzenegger and stick with the two major Republican candidates who've taken the pledge—state senator Tom McClintock and Bill Simon, who lost to Davis in 2002...
...Though not from California, he is a major factor in shaping grassroots conservative opinion...
...Schwarzenegger came close to ruling out any tax increases, insisting Californians "have not been undertaxed...
...But Schwarzenegger has declined to sign a blanket pledge of no new taxes...
...BY FRED BARNES RUSH LIMBAUGH, the king of talk radio, was one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's sharpest conservative critics...
...He does have a commanding presence...
...He zinged the actor-turned-candidate on his show and wrote in the Wall Street Journal that Schwarzenegger "has yet to embrace any conservative positions...
...I am encouraged and just want Arnold to be who he really is...
...But, Lim-baugh said, "Arnold has shown, at least publicly, that he can learn...
...Brulte has been a skeptic on the recall, worrying it could leave Republicans worse off if Gov...
...I am not buying the Reagan comparison," he told me...
...Leadership, the Schwarzenegger camp says...
...He called for a "constitutional spending cap" on state expenditures...
...Two final questions: How should he deal with the other Republican candidates, and is Schwarzenegger the new Reagan...
...He will be unstoppable if he will just do that...
...He was "encouraged by Arnold's performance" and said his candidacy for governor was "much further along" in stressing conservative ideas than even a few weeks ago...
...The time for coming to grips with his Republican foes is mid-September...
...He used a medical analogy to support spending cuts: "Sometimes, as a surgeon will say, you have to cut to save the patient and this is what this situation is...
...But after Schwarzenegger's first press conference last week, in which he opposed raising taxes and backed spending cuts in the California state budget, Limbaugh began to change his mind...
...as governor...
...What does that leave...
...Ken Khachi-gian, an influential Republican, has suggested the death penalty, which is rarely applied in California...
...Tax, tax, tax, tax, tax...
...Gray Davis is removed, which is now likely, and replaced by a more popular Democrat such as Lt...
...Winning may require Ueberroth and either McClintock or Simon to pack it in and endorse him...
...The strategy Schwarzenegger is pursuing comes from Pete Wilson, not Ronald Reagan...
...The best answer I've heard comes from Limbaugh...
...Here, Schwarzenegger showed himself to be a good conservative at his press conference...
...It won't be school choice...
...Schwarzenegger has already assured the California Teachers Association he's against vouchers...
...But to win in a Democratic state like California, a Republican must capture most of the conservative base...
...Schwarzenegger is a Wilsonian on the environment and abortion, which is bound to displease conservatives...
...But, Khachigian concedes, Schwarzenegger might not be comfortable hammering on that issue...
...Wilson also had the crime issue, and Schwarzenegger may need a substitute...
...Cruz Bustamante...
Vol. 8 • September 2003 • No. 48
