<Gray Davis chose his own opponent by attacking the one he thought would be the more difficult to beat. His target was Dick Riordan, the moderate Republican. He has handpicked a hotbutton conservative to run against. Why do you think he did that?

This is correct but the dynamics could be different in a state as liberal as CA.

The big question is what votes are portable? McCain was bound to get more swing votes than Bush and where else could the hard right votes have gone?

Republicans staying home or voting a third party guy would have been a bigger disaster for the Republicans than the Green Party was for the Democrats

I am not certain that the Democrats saw McCain as easier to defeat but a pretty good case can be made for that.

Conservatives have their cross to bear with the religious right, the extreme right to life nuts and guys that wear bow ties. The Liberals must deal with Commies, enviro-nuts and guys that hate fat people who wear a belt and suspenders.

Bill Clinton got elected to the White House not because he was a liberal but because he was conservative for a Democrat. He won moderate Republican votes, as well as moderate Democratic votes. The extreme left of the Democratic Party of course voted for Clinton because they were voting for the lesser of two evils, as they saw it.

Smoke and mirrors, I am not sure Bill has a philosophy beyond saying and doing whatever it takes to have his way. He is as close as we have come to having a sociopath in the White House.