You heard it here first. The Gropinator is going to pull an LBJ and

[yellowcanine]

withdraw from the race for governor. I don't have any inside info, it is just a hunch. He was humiliated at the polls in November with a sweeping defeat of all of his inititives. Then came the reports that he has been illegally driving a motorcycle for years. Now the California wing nuts are turning on him. Arnie is suddenly going to decide that it is best that he withdraw "for the good of Callie fournia."

[Freddie Stubbs]

1. Any idea when he will pull out?

the filing deadline is March 10.

[yellowcanine]

4. No but he will do it in typical Arnie fashion without warning. More than

anything Arnie just loves surprising people. It is part of the thrill of being a groper.

[PsN2Wind]

10. "Pulling out" without warning

must really frustrate Maria.

[yellowcanine]

11. Now that's just nasty. Like I needed that mind picture today.

[iconoclastNYC]

15. No shit. It's like the Frankenstien f'ing Skeltor

[displacedtexan]

2. Excellent analysis, yellowcanine!

Ahhnoldt can save face (by claiming that he's just too
darned centric for his party), withdraw (in order to
preserve his *cough* integrity), and make Terminator IV.

[mike_c]

3. hah! not so fast! I've been saying that for months....

Arnold knows what a miserable failure his "term" has been-- he's achieved few of his personal objectives, done little for the republicans, who are now withdrawing their support, and alienated himself even further from democrats and other California liberals. His "special election" in November was a last ditch attempt to deliver the goods, and he walked away with NOTHING. All his "base" are belong to us. This'll probably even damage his movie career....

[yellowcanine]

5. My apoligies for taking credit then. I can't decide whether I would have

him withdraw in shame or stay in the race and get completely humiliated as well as drag down a bunch of other pubbie candidates as well by depressing pubbie turnout.

[mike_c]

7. personally, I think it matters little what he does....

The repigs are screwed in CA next year, no matter what, IMO. If they don't run Arnold they'll run a devisive primary campaign pitting the likes of Darrel Issa against moderate but unknown party hacks, followed by a general election in which their candidate will spend all his/her time trying to distance themselves from Arnold. If they do run Arnold, his baggage will drag them down with him. The governship in CA is the democrats' to win. Therein lies the problem of course-- their ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory is legendary....

[yellowcanine]

9. Well I just want an asswiping, clock cleaning total defeat of the pubbies

in California and everwhere else for that matter. But California with Arnie running seems like the best shot for it.

[Fridays Child]

6. Wasn't there a story, yesterday, about how he just hired some...

...big deal repuke campaign strategist? :shrug:

[yellowcanine]

8. Well yes. But this will be a spur of the moment thing. Arnie himself

probably won't know he is going to do it 24 hours before he does it. And he may withdraw and then get back in again, claiming that his supporters overwhelmed him with demands to reconsider.

[progressoid]

12. Schwarzenegger has brought on two top operatives from Bush's 2004 race

California -- Arnold Schwarzenegger (R): For the time being this race moves up a slot, though recent developments in the Golden State gubernatorial race seem to benefit the Governator. Schwarzenegger has brought on two top operatives from President Bush's 2004 reelection race -- Steve Schmidt and Matthew Dowd. Both are extremely well thought of in Republican circles and have significant seasoning from their work for Bush. A recent independent poll conducted by San Jose University showed Schwarzenegger's job approval has made it into the 40s -- an improvement but far from ideal. That same poll showed Schwarzenegger with narrow leads over both Democratic candidates (Controller Steve Westly and Treasurer Phil Angelides), neither of whom are at all well-known by the California electorate.

http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/thefix/

[AlGore-08.com]

13. The problem is he's still out polling all his potential Dem opponents

By fairly large margins. The Dems haven't found anybody who can out poll him, so there's no reason for Der Gropenfuehrer to bow out preemptively. But if he did, who would the GOP run? Riordan maybe... and he might still be able to win, if he figures out how to run against right wing wackados in the primary...

[realFedUp]

14. The two leading Dem candidates aren't known yet by gen. public

and Arnold is well-known for all sorts of reasons
and his poll numbers aren't good at all. There's
a more likely chance that people will vote against
Arnold and not specifically for one of the two candidates.

http://field.com/fieldpollonline/subscribers/RLS2179.pdf