California Republicans basically have no choice but to support him, because he is the product of our push to recall Davis. I supported McClintock, but Arnold is better (by a bit) than Bustamante would have been.

If we extend this to a national level, then the picture changes. These left of center Republicans, like Arnold or Rudy, are popular in their local areas (CA, NY) because those places are left of center themselves. But nationally, they are far too liberal to retain the conservative base.

You bring up the Stem Cell Initiative, which Arnold supported. I don’t see how he could support that and still call himself a fiscal conservative. Yet somehow everyone refers to him as fiscally conservative and socially liberal. That measure wasn’t even about pro-life or pro-choice, it was about whether or not we should control spending during a fiscal crisis.

And he isn’t a typical Hollywood actor anymore, he’s a politician. We expect him to express his political views, it’s his job.

All that I am asking for is that he governs as a fiscal conservative. If what he’s doing now counts as fiscal conservatism, which the media is trying to portray, then he is basically just another liberal. And if he wants the rest of the party to move this way, than that is what would really haunt me: the death of a once grand, old party.

Schwarzenegger has said recently that the Republican party should swing left as compared to its current position. I wonder why?

Conservatives openly support this man as Governor and he isn’t cut from the same cloth as “real” conservatives. I mean, he even supports things like the Stem Cell initiative and so many more so-called “liberal causes” (as I do).

Also, isn’t he a typical Hollywood actor that conservatives love to hate?

I say be careful about what you ask for: it can come back to haunt you.