Posted on 11/08/2006 10:18:38 AM PST by SmithL
It is on days like this one that we sympathize with anyone awakening from a three-year coma and suddenly reading today's headlines.
"Arnold Schwarzenegger re-elected governor."
Whaaaaaat?
Yes, its true, this Hollywood icon has again won the governor's race. This news doesn't shock anyone who has been awake in recent months, but to the uninitiated, it may sound like an April Fools' Day prank.
We sympathize with them now, as they sit in their hospital beds, incredulous at the headlines, wondering: How did this happen? How did Schwarzenegger become governor?
Many Wednesday-morning quarterbacks will point to Schwarzenegger's superior star power, the power of incumbency and a weak campaign run by his opponent, Treasurer Phil Angelides. They don't give Schwarzenegger enough credit.
Name recognition didn't help the governor when he sponsored a silly special election and was down deep in the polls last year. He turned things around and won this year because he set priorities, worked with the Legislature and was able to frame himself as a bipartisan governor who could get things done. He accomplished enough to back up his message, which resonated with an electorate fed up with years of wedge-issue politics and inaction, both in Sacramento and Washington.
Indeed, the surprise of this resurgent year for Democrats is not that a Republican governor got re-elected in California, but that more politicians aren't following Schwarzenegger's model for success. Voters want competing politicians to offer distinct choices, but they don't want ideology to trump all avenues for cooperation.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Oh wait...he hasn't.
Someone's going to have to pay for it. Ain't gonna be me!
I would not exactly call it "down the middle."
Except of course, in California.
Me either. I got out! ('Course, now I have to worry about how I'm gonna pay Rick Perry's debt...)
firmly on a fence. a tower of jello. lukewarm.
Down the middle? this is the course for America? Great lets be influenced by our collective opinion rather than moral fortitude - great news for America - NOT.
The RINOs have confused what true conservatism means - time to get rid of RINOs everywhere - I will be looking forward to more RINOs leaving even if that means we get conservative democrats to replace them.
Yes, middle doesn't begin to describe my view of his policies.
You are just helping pay for the national debt that our spendthrift Republican Congress blanketed us with over the past six years.
Down the middle .. of the left lane.

Any Questions?
This is CA, we republicans are outnumbered in this state, so he had to change course or lose :-(
another bright note, not that there are many, prop 87 lost, so much for having clinton and gore telling us how we should vote on that one.
So I guess we've been reduced to saying, "It's okay to vote for liberals so long as they've got an 'R' by their name" huh?
Yeah...don't set those standards too high. Y'might actually amount to something, God forbid.
The time to squabble about who represents the GOP is the primary season which is the next cycle.
Besides confusion, what state are you from?
Aren't you the Sacred cow burgers guy?
I love your stuff.
Is Arnold the best California has to offer? No! he's probably not the best Rio Linda has to offer but he's better than 'increase our taxes' Angelides by a long shot.
I hate to tell you but the days of California voting for someone like Reagan are long past.
I'm still disoriented that Jerry Brown is AG. Is this an effort to make Janet Reno look good?
That right there is the problem, in a state that elects Jerry Brown to ANY statewide office, proves that we are obviously in decline. Expect marriage to gerbils to be legal soon and Richard Gere will be the star power behind it.
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