California Insider

A Weblog by
Sacramento Bee Columnist Daniel Weintraub

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August 27, 2003

Arnold's appeal to the middle

Arnold staked out a whole host of positions on non-economic issues in a radio interview today, and, as we thought, he is all over the board. He's generally pro-choice on abortion but doesn't support late term procedures. He's for regulating military style semi-automatic weapons and for background checks. He's against drilling for oil off shore, and he is for domestic partnerships but not gay marriage. He supports keeping marijuana legal for medicinal purposes. He is, on all these issues, as close to the California mainstream as you can get. He is also, on these issues, a near carbon copy of Gov. Gray Davis, except perhaps on late-term abortions. He is not in sync with a majority of the Republican Party, which is why this race is ideal to him, with its winner take all result. The difference between Arnold and most leading California Democrats comes on taxes and spending. He wants to try to balance the budget while cutting taxes, while Democrats (and most independent analysts) say that can't be done. He would tend to oppose laws that add new mandates to employers while Democrats tend to favor them. His differences with McClintock, on the other hand, are on the social issues: McClintock opposes abortion rights and gun control, and domestic partnerships. But the two agree on most economic issues. It would appear, then, that Arnold is heading straight down the middle between Cruz and Tom, agreeing with Cruz on most social issues and agreeing with McClintock on most economic issues. Significantly, he also opposed granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, a proposal that Cruz and Gray support but which I doubt has very much backing among the broader electorate. This election will show once and for all if there is a viable middle in California politics. Here is an AP story on the interview, with Sean Hannity.