Posted on 10/31/2005 10:22:42 AM PST by calcowgirl
Style over substance. It's the California way.
And nowhere is it more apparent than in this year's nasty special election campaign.
The whole range of initiatives on the ballot has been reduced to bumpersticker simplicity. Both sides swing the broad brush of special interest to tar their opponents.
And, of course, it's working.
Even Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has shown himself to be tone deaf from time to time, seems to have gotten the message that much of the campaign has boiled down to 'Arnold is bad' vs. 'reform is good.'
Ah, if life were only that simple.
The Schwarzenegger camp is working hard to minimize the conflict and remove the easy target. The governor's face has vanished from the campaign ads. Then there's the bizarre round of serial debates -- Walnut Creek this week with Fresno and Los Angeles to follow -- in which the governor and his opponents are on the same stage but not at the same time. The appearance that's left is that of the governor of the nation's largest state dodging a face-to-face with a union leader and a state senator who's been the target of a recent FBI investigation.
Now that's weak.
So too is the rash of television ads offered by both sides. Voters are treated to teachers whining about taking a budget hit in the face of the state's staggering deficit and firemen whining about a pension change that isn't on the ballot.
On the other side, the image of the little old lady waving her cane and ranting incoherently about the legislature's greed doesn't add anything to the discussion of whether retired judges should draw legislative district borders. Under the revised campaign finance rules, at least voters know that bit is financed by developer A.G. Spanos, who should be ashamed.
What voters are left with is another case of California-lite politics. Don't think too hard, just pull the lever.
Some observers are predicting a turnout that rivals a primary, suggesting that's somehow better than expected. Others are suggesting that voters will go to the polls and vote no on everything just to send a message that the whole special election was a bad idea.
Neither thought is reassuring.
But in the end, we'll get exactly the kind of government we deserve. And that's a shame.
Now that's weak.
Only in California!
How's PerataGate coming along, anyway?
PeRATaGate is a fed investigation and taking forever, but we are at war too so who knows ... I hope we see him charged before the general election next year at this rate.
Also sad to see the FPPC losing the ability and funding to do its job. But that's business as usual in Sacramento.
actually, the truth is that I get the kind of government that THEY deserve.
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