Free Republic

SACRAMENTO - Typically in California, candidates for governor and lieutenant governor don't campaign as running mates -- but you would never guess it by watching Republicans Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom McClintock lately. The 2006 campaign is still young, but Schwarzenegger, the incumbent governor seeking an uncertain re-election, and McClintock, a state senator from Ventura County running for lieutenant governor, look very much like a tag team. Personal friendship -- and political necessity -- have forged an alliance between the two that mirrors a presidential-vice presidential slate, with each shoring up the other's weaknesses. Schwarzenegger helps boost McClintock's visibility and fund-raising...

The three known candidates for governor are all out trolling for millions of dollars in campaign funds, but no big, six-figure checks will be flowing into their accounts. Not unless the checks are written by the candidates themselves. For the first time in a California gubernatorial election, there are limits on how much individual donors can contribute to a campaign. Under Proposition 34, which took effect for statewide offices after the 2002 election, individual contributions to a candidate for governor are capped at $22,300. Garry South, a longtime Democratic campaign strategist now advising state Controller Steve Westly's gubernatorial campaign, said...

SAN DIEGO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday announced his plans to seek re-election in 2006, saying he intends to "follow through" and seek a second term to finish the job he started. "Here's the bottom line: I said I am a follow-through guy; I have learned that from sports. In every sport you learn about following through: in golf about swinging through, in tennis we follow through, in skiing we finish the turn," he said. "I learned most of my lessons from sports. So, of course we are going to follow through with this here. I'm not in there...

CLOVIS, Calif. — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger all but declared Wednesday that he would run for a second term next year, saying, "I am not in this for the short run," and promising an official announcement Friday in San Diego. Speaking at a special election campaign event in this Central Valley town near Fresno, Schwarzenegger was asked by an audience member if Californians would get "a chance to vote for you again." It was the last question during a carefully planned "town hall" meeting at a window factory. The governor paused, smiled briefly and then revealed what he had been hinting...

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signaled on Wednesday that he would seek a second term as governor in what would already be his fifth major campaign since seeking the office in 2003. The former Hollywood actor kicked off a series of campaign events this week ahead of a special election he has called for November on teacher pay, redistricting and the state budget. In an appearance before an invited audience in Clovis, California, he said he would announce on Friday whether he will seek a second term for governor starting in 2006. "I'm not in this for the short term," he...

SACRAMENTO — Election-weary California voters have yet to weigh in on November's special election ballot measures. But special interests have already launched dozens of initiative efforts aimed at next year's election. About two dozen ballot measure bids are listed with the secretary of state's office to be circulated for signatures to qualify for the June ballot or are awaiting approval to circulate. Initiative efforts are under way on topics ranging from restricting political contributions by corporations and creating a new state police force to patrol the Mexican border to expanding preschool. And even more initiatives are likely to follow. While...

SACRAMENTO — Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to announce next week he is running for re-election, sources said Thursday, as Democratic lawmakers continued passing bills that the governor plans to veto. Ignoring legislators' scramble to wrap up their 2005 session today, Schwarzenegger traveled to GOP-friendly Fresno on Thursday as he continued campaigning for his Nov. 8 special election to revamp state government. In the Legislature, bills addressing key issues to the public — such as a multibillion-dollar transportation bond — remained shelved until next year at the earliest. The developments came in the wake of polls that show Californians...

State Sen. Abel Maldonado plans to run for state controller in a Republican primary next year against former Ventura County Assemblyman Tony Strickland. Maldonado, R-San Luis Obispo, a farmer who served three terms in the assembly, was elected to the Senate last fall in a competitive district that stretches from San Jose to his Santa Maria hometown. He is a close ally of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and co-chaired Schwarzenegger's election campaign during the recall of then-Gov. Gray Davis. "I'm a businessman -- that's a good first qualification," Maldonado said in a telephone interview Wednesday night. "I want to really focus...