Posted on 06/14/2005 10:15:53 AM PDT by SmithL
Arnold Schwarzenegger is California's most famous personality and counts on that to persuade voters to enact three measures that would shift the balance of power in the Capitol - but as he called a special election Monday, he was at least partially upstaged by the acquittal of another famous Californian, Michael Jackson, on child molestation charges.
Many television stations elevated the Jackson verdict over Schwarzenegger's three-minute speech in which he declared that "our broken state government will be modernized and revitalized" either through his initiatives or compromises with the Democrat-controlled Legislature, the latter being, however, an infinitesimal possibility.
Schwarzenegger aides had worried about competing for media attention with a Jackson verdict as he launched what could be the state's most expensive and divisive election campaign, one whose outcome could set the political tone for decades to come. And the juxtaposition was, in a sense, a metaphor for the glitches that have plagued the "year of reform" crusade from its onset late last fall.
Schwarzenegger was riding high in the polls when he decided to pursue a series of special election ballot measures to overcome what he considered to be a nonresponsive Legislature, but he and his advisers were tardy in getting them written, and made drafting mistakes that were fodder for his enemies. And the delays gave public employee unions time in which to launch a multimillion-dollar media campaign.
The anti-Schwarzenegger forces had recognized that, essentially, it would be a referendum on Schwarzenegger's standing with voters - a vote of confidence a year in advance of the 2006 election - and that their best hope would be to pull down his popularity. Preoccupied with drafting and financing the initiatives, he ignored a basic rule of modern politics and allowed the assaults to go unanswered.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Wishful thinking by the MSM. This is going to be ugly. I had the misfortune to hear a few 'news' i.e. agitprop reports on this. Every one of them immediately launched into a tirade on the '$80 million cost.' Straight from the Dems talking points. Oh well. We beat them in the election last year and in the recall. Felt g-o-o-d. Let's do it again.
I thought this was goiung to be about PHIL Jackson....
me 2
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