The voters who recalled Gray Davis and elected Arnold governor make up a loose group that I call the Normality Base: Republicans, thinking independents, and conservative Democrats. They are busy soccer moms, harried commuters, and stressed out small business owners. They tend to agree with Republicans much of the time. The Normality Base never felt the sense of urgency about the Special Election they did about the recall. They simply didn’t vote.
The unmotivated Normality Base are still here and still don’t care much for big government and high taxes. They will vote in greater numbers in the next scheduled election. This base is poised to re-elect the governor if he sends the right message. Conversely, the Susan Kennedy appointment indicates likely electoral disaster for Schwarzenegger if it is the beginning of a hard left shift toward supporting higher taxes and bigger government
Not likely. The Republican Party in CA doesn't have the muscle to outdo the Democrats when they engage in all-or-nothing warfare, but Schwarzenegger is not going to abandon fiscal reform. Interesting analysis.
All he's done is send budgets to the legislature with record spending covered by record bond debt. If that's "fiscal reform" I don't want any more of it.
He can't "abandon" something he never started. Two years in office and a big fat goose egg on fiscal reform. In fact, a net minus on fiscal reform. This, despite all of the pre-recall promises.