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Editorial: Down the middle - Schwarzenegger steers a winning course
Sacramento Bee ^ | 11/8/6 | Editor

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 ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Government; Politics/Elections; US: California
KEYWORDS: debt; debtandmoredebt; governator

1 posted on 11/08/2006 10:18:39 AM PST by SmithL
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To: SmithL
Tell me again how Arnold has reduced California's debt.

Oh wait...he hasn't.

Someone's going to have to pay for it. Ain't gonna be me!

2 posted on 11/08/2006 10:21:54 AM PST by Prime Choice (We lost because we lost our way. It's time to purge the party of all RINOs now.)
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To: SmithL

I would not exactly call it "down the middle."

Except of course, in California.


3 posted on 11/08/2006 10:22:53 AM PST by Brilliant
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To: Prime Choice
Someone's going to have to pay for it. Ain't gonna be me!

Me either. I got out! ('Course, now I have to worry about how I'm gonna pay Rick Perry's debt...)

4 posted on 11/08/2006 10:23:49 AM PST by Cymbaline (I repeat myself when under stress I repeat myself when under stress I repeat myself when under stres)
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To: SmithL

firmly on a fence. a tower of jello. lukewarm.


5 posted on 11/08/2006 10:24:03 AM PST by shankbear (Al-Qaeda grew while Monica blew)
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To: SmithL

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.


6 posted on 11/08/2006 10:25:44 AM PST by sasafras (("Licentiousness destroyes order, and when chaos ensues, the yearning for order will destroy freedom)
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To: Brilliant

Yes, middle doesn't begin to describe my view of his policies.


7 posted on 11/08/2006 10:27:09 AM PST by DoughtyOne (Victory will never be achieved while defining Conservatism downward, and forsaking it's heritage.)
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To: Prime Choice

You are just helping pay for the national debt that our spendthrift Republican Congress blanketed us with over the past six years.


8 posted on 11/08/2006 10:28:13 AM PST by em2vn
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To: SmithL

Down the middle .. of the left lane.


9 posted on 11/08/2006 10:29:20 AM PST by pogo101
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To: Prime Choice
Arnold OR:

Any Questions?

10 posted on 11/08/2006 10:36:50 AM PST by Lx (Do you like it, do you like it. Scott? I call it Mr. and Mrs. Tennerman chili.)
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To: SmithL

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.


11 posted on 11/08/2006 10:42:39 AM PST by psjones (u)
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To: Lx
Gee...what a choice. Evil or Stupid. Golly...so appealing.

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.

12 posted on 11/08/2006 11:54:30 AM PST by Prime Choice (We lost because we lost our way. It's time to purge the party of all RINOs now.)
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To: Prime Choice
Give it a rest. We had only Arnold or Angelides to pick from. I voted Arnold this election and would do it again.

The time to squabble about who represents the GOP is the primary season which is the next cycle.

13 posted on 11/08/2006 12:27:22 PM PST by newzjunkey (Osama is smiling today.)
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To: Prime Choice
It looks like English but sounds like so much rubbish.

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.

14 posted on 11/08/2006 12:27:58 PM PST by Lx (Do you like it, do you like it. Scott? I call it Mr. and Mrs. Tennerman chili.)
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