Free Republic

IONE, Calif. (AP) - California is improving its "expensive and inefficient" prison system as it tries to ward off a federal judge's threatened takeover, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said after touring his first prison as governor Monday. He touted programs including a tripling of spending on a prison watchdog program he previously tried to cut, and predicted U.S. District Judge Thelton E. Henderson will decide to work with state corrections officials rather than assigning a receiver over the largest state prison system. Schwarzenegger said he never asked Henderson during their recent half-hour telephone conversation whether the judge plans to carry out...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Arnold Schwarzenegger won top billing in U.S. newspaper editorials on Friday that greeted The Terminator's sensational candidacy for California governor as anything from "surprisingly mindless" to "just the man." Reuters Photo "Muscle Beach Politics," "Conan the Contender," were among the predictable, but irresistible, headlines his candidacy provoked. Others included: "Total Recall," "The Running Man" and "Well, won't this be fun, fellow Americans?" Republican Schwarzenegger, a muscle-bound action hero best known for his role in "The Terminator" movies, began filing papers on Thursday as a candidate in California's Oct. 7 vote to recall Democratic Gov. Gray Davis (news...

<p>SACRAMENTO - The Republican-led bid to oust Democratic Gov. Gray Davis has set the stage for an unprecedented recall campaign that is certain to be one of the shortest, strangest trips in California political history.</p> <p>Over the next 72 days, the Golden State will pioneer a new brand of hyperactive campaign far removed from the normal yearlong vetting process for choosing leaders.</p>