California: Republican in statehouse frees Democrats up for '06

WASHINGTON -- With the recall election barely behind them, some California Democrats already are surveying the field for candidates strong enough to challenge Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006.

"Now that the governor is a Republican, it frees up every Democratic statewide officeholder to look at the 2006 race," said California GOP strategist Dan Schnur.

Attorney General Bill Lockyer and state Treasurer Phil Angelides are the two leading contenders. Both of them, analysts said, easily surpass Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, who lost overwhelmingly Tuesday to Schwarzenegger.

"I don't see how he recovers from this," said University of Southern California political scientist Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, speaking of Bustamante. "There are others who haven't already lost decisively to the incumbent governor."

At least two Southern California congressional Democrats already have placed themselves in Lockyer's camp. Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, and Joe Baca, D-San Bernardino, said they want to see the attorney general take on Schwarzenegger.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who refused pleas from Democratic colleagues to become the recall's alternative to Schwarzenegger, also has been named as a possibility.

"She'd instantly be the Democratic front-runner," Schnur said. But, he and others noted, the 70-year-old Feinstein has long professed being content in her current position as California's senior senator, and few believe she has the stomach for a messy statewide primary.

Other names that have surfaced include Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi -- who dropped out of the recall race this year, and who twice ran unsuccessfully for governor in the past -- and state Controller Steve Westley.

Whether any of the likely candidates can pull together a campaign to rival the star power of Schwarzenegger, however, remains to be seen. "They should be looking at who takes over for Schwarzenegger in 2010 after he's served a second term," Schnur said.

Added Jeffe: "This is still a Democratic state, and we don't know how Schwarzenegger is going to work out as governor."

"I think that there will be a number of qualified and attractive candidates," said Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Lakewood. "Arnold is going to have to produce, and if he doesn't it's going to be very easy to defeat him."

It sounds like the Democrats (who control the legislature) will attempt the stop everything he does. I think they should be careful using this tactic or it could be they that get replaced next. I don't think that it was only Davis the voters were mad at.

A Recall AND a Fundraiser? I'm toast.

Let's get this over with FAST. Please contribute!

It sounds like the Democrats (who control the legislature) will attempt the stop everything he does. I think they should be careful using this tactic or it could be they that get replaced next.

I think that's exactly what they're going to try. If Schwarzenegger is as smart as he seems to be, he'll call them on it and use his celebrity to go directly to the people. He'll have instant TV time whenever he opens his mouth, and he can rake the obstructionists over the coals unmercifully. If those people think they get a lot of mail and calls now from talk radio audiences, wait 'til they feel the power of Die Schwarz.

It sounds like the Democrats (who control the legislature) will attempt the stop everything he does.

Well, they will certainly be sneaky about it, but guaranteed, the Democrats' mission in life right now is to sabotage Governor Schwarzenegger, and what's good for California be damned.

But it is not just a matter of "stopping" things that Schwarzenegger wants to do.
The scumbag Democrats will also feed Arnold bill after bill of radical-liberal items such as gun-control measures, universal health-care measures, gay marriage measures, enviro-Nazi stuff, expanded welfare for illegal aliens, and on and on. The goal will be to keep Arnold busy pissing off conservatives while at the same time demagoging him for the "mean-spirited budget slashes" that will be necessary to balance the budget without tax increases.

Arnold's task is daunting, to say the least.

"As long as Arnold gets a budget passed next summer without any tax increase, he is golden. If he turns out to be a liar and agrees to any tax hike at all, he is toast. It truly is as simple as that."

Arnold can raise taxes on the Indian gaming casinos (by offering them permits for additional slots) without suffering any political popularity fallout. Likewise, he won't suffer if the Democrats make it obvious that they are being obstructionists against his budget.

If Arnold gets a budget either through the legislature or onto the ballot as an initiative, then he's fine.

If he repeals the car tax and gets a balanced budget, then he's golden. The key to the latter is bringing in Ardoin to repeat the budget magic that she's brought to 3 previous Republican state governments by slashing waste and pork. Should she work her magic again in California, then not only will Arnold be a new political legend, but she'll be able to write an impressive ticket for herself, as well.

Presuming that Arnold doesn't self-destruct in his first year, his power to line-item-veto budgets in future years will let him check the Democratic legislature. In this manner he'll be able to either remain as California's governor or walk into a Senate seat at the time of his choosing.

So the Democrats really only have Arnold's first year in which to stop him. After that year has passed he'll be untouchable. Ironically, due to the severe miscalculations by the Democratic slime machine in the last days of the recall campaign, Arnold's first year will be the most difficult time for Democrats to have public opinion on their side for any obvious obstructionistic or character assasination tactics. Whether they knew it or not, they were making an all-or-nothing gamble with the NAZI smears and the groping smears.

They got the "nothing."

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