Experts Expound

“Will Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger face a challenger in the 2006 Republican
gubernatorial primary? Given his recent appointments, is there any
indication he should run as an independent?”

“No and No.”

“No – unless Mike Spence or Jim Gilchrist wants to poke a finger in the
Governor’s eye. “

“He will run as a Republican and he will face a challenger in the primary.”

“He’ll end up facing someone like Ray Haynes, who’ll get 25-30 percent of
the primary vote, all of which will support Arnold in November. The bigger
threat is that Jim Gilchrist will run as a third-party candidate.”

“Arnold’s wet dream is to have a weak right wing opponent. It would help him
in his transformation to being a so-called centrist. He would be flattened
in a three-way race as an independent. Arnold’s Army has had too many
deserters.”

“Running as an independent would make sense ideologically, but it would be
harder logistically and more difficult to raise money under the contribution
limits.”

“He took the brunt of the criticism for supporting four initiatives that are
part of the Republicans’ Holy Grail, and each went down in flames with
little or no support from GOP voters. Arnold will be the Republican nominee,
and he won’t have a credible primary challenger