Posted on 11/09/2005 4:18:22 PM PST by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Arnold Schwarzenegger's rise to governor of the nation's most populous state two years ago made him so popular that some Republicans even hinted at a constitutional amendment that would allow him to run for president.
On Wednesday, a remarkable reversal of fortune left the former action hero fighting for his political life in a Democratic-leaning state and struggling to regain his footing before a 2006 re-election bid.
Voters a day earlier rejected all four of the government reform initiatives he had placed on a special election ballot, a resounding defeat for a governor who cast the election as a continuation of the 2003 recall election that swept him into office.
"It doesn't mean that Arnold Schwarzenegger's political career is over," said Darry Sragow, a Democratic consultant who worked with Schwarzenegger last year. "But he had a mandate to reform state government, and he no longer has that mandate. It's tragic."
Schwarzenegger stayed out of sight Wednesday as voters and analysts chewed over the election results. He first public appearance after the election debacle will be a meeting Thursday with Democratic and Republican legislative leaders in Sacramento, the first step in an effort to rehabilitate his former image as a bipartisan governor.
"There is much work to be done," Schwarzenegger told supporters Tuesday night, vowing to collaborate with lawmakers in the months ahead. "We've got to rebuild our infrastructure. We need more schools. We need more firefighters, more teachers ... Californians are sick and tired of all the fighting and all those negative TV ads."
Schwarzenegger had asked voters to approve a state spending cap and give him authority to make midyear budget cuts, change the way legislative districts are drawn, restrict the money unions could raise for political campaigns and make teachers work longer to gain tenure. None of the four prevailed, as voters appeared puzzled by the special election and angry at its price tag, estimated to be at least $50 million.
Elizabeth Garrett, an expert on California's initiative process at the University of Southern California, said Schwarzenegger had learned an important lesson about the limitations of initiatives in enacting the kind of changes he sought.
"He needs to re-establish his connection with the people and push real reform through the traditional governing process," she said. "This is the really important moment - the pivotal moment of his political career."
The governor's drubbing at the polls has left his political reputation in tatters, weakening his hand with the largely Democratic state Legislature and opening him to a competitive race for re-election in 2006.
Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez said that while Democrats were willing to work with Schwarzenegger, the two sides hadn't reached the "kumbaya stage" quite yet.
"We just spent $55 million of taxpayers money that didn't prove a dang thing. I'm deeply disappointed in our governor," Nunez said.
So far, two Democrats - state Treasurer Phil Angelides and Controller Steve Westly - have announced plans to challenge Schwarzenegger next year. Both campaigned actively against Schwarzenegger's initiatives but have failed to ignite passion among voters or fellow Democrats.
Despite Schwarzenegger's weakened state, analysts say he enters the race with some important advantages on his side.
"His base is still united and firmly behind him," said Bill Whalen, a Republican consultant and scholar at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
"And if you talk to smart Democrats, most will tell you they would love nothing more than to see another candidate in the primary who would excite the party."
Actor Warren Beatty and director Rob Reiner entered the fray in the campaign's final weeks to lobby against Schwarzenegger, raising hope among Democrats that one or the other would challenge him next year.
But Whalen, who was an aide to former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, said he didn't think either could deliver what the Democrats need to beat the celebrity governor.
"The election was a referendum against Schwarzenegger and a referendum against the special election," he said. "But I don't see the public chanting 'We want Warren.'"
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Associated Press Writers Tom Chorneau in Los Angeles and Jennifer Coleman in Sacramento contributed to this report.
Alright, Norm, or anyone else who cares to advise... Just who really is "His Base?"
I sincerely would like an answer to that!!!
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
The hottest place in hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of moral crisis.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Since the mid nineties, abortion has been a winner for CA dems. No matter what else may be on the ballot, any abortion issue will help kill the others.
I left in 2000 and then, in any election, abortion is all you heard. That's how the democrats got into and keep the power.
Don't bore me with the obvious.
Then we get all these Party hacks on here, trying to hack off all those who choose to think, rather than march lock-step with non-thinking, Party somnambulistas... Geeze!!!
That's where you nailed it.
Of course they want it fixed. Why do you think Davis was recalled?
The problem was Arnold. He failed to inspire the base, while the Rats went crazy getting everyone possible to the polls (wonder how many illegals were included). Arnold could have inspired the base if he had mounted an aggressive program of cost reductions and cuts shortly after taking office. Instead, he did nothing to fulfill any part of his campaign rhetoric. Finally, he got together his four initiatives which turned out to be confusing (76 & 77), and were too little/too late. By then, the base questioned Arnold's reform seriousness beause his two years in office mostly revealed him to be long on talk but short on action when it came to cost cutting (his interview statements about "we never want to cut anything" certainly didn't help). The fact is, the base simply didn't trust Arnold, so many didn't bother to go to the polls. That, combined with the Rat's nuclear spending anti-Arnold program, made the difference.
* ping *
You guys can argue about the strategy all you want, but it all boils down to one thing only: passion.
Who had the passion in this election? It was the unions and the Dems in a fight for their lives - versus - the semi-conservative "base" who apparently couldn't be bothered to put their Ink-A-Tron where their mouth is.
Yeah, yeah-- maybe AS should have got CA to vote on the props earlier, maybe he should have made them easier to understand, maybe he should have campaigned harder, better and faster-- blah, blah, blah.
But if just half a million more of the "base" got off their fat, stupid, lazy, pathetic asses, we'd be praising Shwartzenegger as a HERO right now.
For shame.
What to say about a state that votes against the right of parents to know when their kids are about to abort their grandchildren? To me that is the saddest thing of all.
Works for me. Sounds a bit Patton-like. Make the other sonuvabitch die for HIS country.
The left has political AIDS, it just hasn't died yet.
Because Arnold isn't fixing anything, he is making it worse. Or hadn't you noticed?
That is what I was wondering. It sure isn't conservatives.
No we wouldn't. I voted against his crap.
That caught my eye too. Once "his base" is identified, maybe they can add what they stand for (other than just "winning")? We know it isn't 2nd amendment rights, or smaller government, or property rights, or traditional family values.
All aRnold's base are belong to dems. :-)
They voted him in in the Recall and now p'd all over him yesterday and likely will again in both rounds of elections next year.
Maybe he wasn't necessarily a Trojan Horse, more like a Crazy Horse thinking he could pull off an end run around those who elected him by running in the middle and then veering hard right.
All we know now is he is no Sea Biscuit
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