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.
Can't help. The thread appears to have degenerate into a food fight with out-of-state, Republican loyalists.
One of the protagonists thought Prop 76 would have effectively downsized the government and curbed the outrageous spending going on in Sacramento.
There is no reward in an argument with an uninformed, partisan activist.
No, just a horse biscuit.
I vote for Stalking Horse, as in Pete Wilson's stalking horse.
If Wilson wanted to "get even" with the CAGOP, boy did he ever.
Oh...silly me.
Great post, couldn't agree with you more.
LOL.. I was mulling horses to use, I missed that one, Thanks!
The propositions MOST REJECTED were the socialist drug plan (79) and regulating of the power industry again (80).
California 38 years ago voted similarly to Idaho. Not now.
Reagan was a Republican among Democrats, even then.
If the base stayed home and didn't want to support spending control, or a simple parental notification before 13 year old girls abort their grandchild then SHAME ON THEM.
And three years later, Prop 13 passed in a landslide. Sometimes things have to get much worse before they can get better - life in California is too easy for a lot of people and they don't feel the need for change yet. Arnold's initiatives were probably just a few years too early.
Arnold's initiatives were a day late and a budget deficit short to a pissed off base.
I really doubt anyone changed his mind about Gov. Schwarzenegger between Monday and today based on the results of the election.
Some of the propositions lost by smaller margins, 5.2% apart for 73 and 7% apart for 75, which clearly are not simply party-line votes.
I guess one thing that many missed and this goes back to the Recall is that when one side has butchered the Golden Goose and an inexperienced chef is asked to salvage the carcass and to prepare and serve it, he may overseason and overcook and spoil it for all.
Recalls like this only come along like once in a great while, if ever, and to see so many folks jump on a novice as their best hope says a lot about how little most folks really thought about or recognized what was happening, how truly historic it was and how to best take advantage of it.
The outright lies that a conservative could never win did more damage than most realize and those who uttered them should be chided for still acting like they support conservatism as a key principle, much less a key pillar of sound government.
We will likely be forever in debt due to them and the bond lenders of Wall St. for years and years and future generations will now carry the burden of repaying those same debts well into this century.
And for what? The mantra of Just Win, Baby! still rings on, so powerful was the desire to abandon principle for a B movie star performance and seek to take what appeared a sure thing and a path of least resistance. It speaks to how hard some folks just will not fight for what is good and right on the conservative side of the aisles and why moderates serve no one well in today's government, here or at the federal level.
How lazy or gullible can voters be?
Yesterday and the Recall confirmed it for all to see, imo.
(adjusts my flame retardant (M)ilk undies)
/rant off
You're strategy assumes that the unions will go bankrupt ala the USSR during the cold war. Meanwhile the state continues it's downward spiral and there is no guarantee that the unions will run out of money.
And if they run out of money, there is still no guarantee that they'll lose elections in CA.
A few solid reform measures, carefully drafted, could have made a difference. A real spending cap was offered to Arnold but he rejected it. Prop 73 should have been strongly supported, on its own, by the CA GOP. Instead, I got phone calls from Duf Sundheim trying to get me to vote for socialized medicine (Prop 78) while being told by Party operatives on FR that Prop 79 was in the bag so we just had to vote for Prop 78 as the lesser of two evils. Principles be damned seems to be the message they are sending.
If this election showed one thing, it is that the CA GOP leadership is totally misguided and inept and should be fired!
First you have to identify whose leading the party. That is a real problem under the current circumstances.
Is the Wilson gang leading the party by virtue of hijacking the election and forcing the capitulation of the CAGOP?
Is the CAGOP leading the party by virtue of their Central Committees and organizational activists in the field?
Are Schwarzenegger's band of financial supporters leading both because of their influence over an unpredictable political novice?
Fire when you must but first take aim at the correct target.
All I see are Hummers and black limos and they are all moving.
Help us out here. ;-)
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