Free Republic

Arnold Is No "Liberal" August 26, 2003 by Bob Chandra MensNewsDaily.com California Republicans have a historical opportunity to remove from office the state's corrupt and inept governor, Gray Davis, who has bankrupted California and buried it in debt. Recent polls indicate that the effort to recall Gray Davis would succeed. However, the nightmare scenario would be that Davis ally - Democrat Cruz Bustamante - would gain the most votes as a result of Republicans dividing their votes amongst several candidates. Recent polls by Time/CNN, NBC, and the Public Policy Institute of California all suggest the same thing - Schwarzenegger...

SAN FRANCISCO- With less than 50 days until political judgment day for Gov. Gray Davis, a majority of California voters say they want to remove the Democrat from office, according to a poll released on Thursday. A Public Policy Institute of California telephone survey of 993 likely voters from Aug. 8 to Aug. 17 found 58 percent wanted to recall the Democrat, unpopular over his handling of state finances. Republican actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who aired his first television commercials on Wednesday, led the survey among replacement candidates with 23 percent, with Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante in second place at...

<p>Listening to some Republicans and conservatives on the possibility of winning the California governorship lately has been dismaying. "We don't really want to win this race. California is in such a mess it can't be fixed and we will be tagged as failures if we try. Let the Democrats continue to stew in their mess." Or a variation on this theme: "Whoever wins will not have a mandate so he/she will not be able to govern, especially with the huge Democrat majorities in the California legislature."</p>

Schwarzenegger meets with teachers unions Arnold Schwarzenegger was among six gubernatorial candidates who met with the California Teachers Association Monday as the union decides who, if anyone, to endorse in the Oct. 7 recall election. Schwarzenegger spokesman Sean Walsh said Monday that Schwarzenegger had a 40-45 minute discussion via telephone with a panel of seven CTA board members, his first formal meeting with a major California political interest group. The few details Walsh provided of the meeting offer a larger clue about the Schwarzenegger campaign strategy -- make as few commitments to political groups as possible while trying to dampen...

Brit Hume just had on a Poly Sci prof from Berkeley (I know, I know, but hear me out). He said that so much of the state's budget was "locked in" by constitutional mandate that CA is required to spend no less than 38% on education. According to him, even if you spent the minimum on Ed, and chopped several agencies, you could still only account for about 2/3 of the debt. Again, according to him, even if you did ALL that, AND the state's economy rebounded to mid-1990s levels, you would still be several billion short without cutting state...

Destructive Government:The Capitol’s Careening Ruling Class and the Wreckage It Is Leaving in Its WakeBy: M. David Stirling The Golden State is becoming dysfunctional. Pick any category where state governance controls or primarily influences public policy—from the acute condition of the public fisc, to the anemic condition of the state’s business community; from the ailing jobs market, to the stagnating electrical energy market; from the declining capacity to meet infrastructure needs, such as education, transportation, and water, to a total unpreparedness to accommodate the additional six million new Californians expected by 2010. In every major category, the liberal-controlled Legislature has set California...

STANFORD, Calif. -- A Republican political novice from Hollywood seeks to oust an unpopular Democratic governor of California. He's met with skepticism: Can an actor also be a producer and director of state government? But in the end, the guy gets the girl -- in this case, not just one girl but a nation-state of 35 million men and women looking for answers to a slow economy and political lethargy.

<p>The California recall and Arnold Schwarzenegger's candidacy have been a boon to President Bush, pushing questions about Iraq and stories about the Democratic presidential campaign off the front pages and out of the nightly newscasts.</p> <p>Two weeks ago, questions about Iraq, reconstruction and weapons of mass destruction accounted for more than an hour of news time on the evening network newscasts. Last week, that was cut in half, said Matthew T. Felling, media director for the Center for Media and Public Affairs.</p>

I'm trying to bump the thread "nuts and bolts in California" to the top. I had a comment which I wanted everyone to see. I posted the comment, but it didn't make it to the top. How do I accomplish that? Thanks. caveat_emptor

Arnold is no RonaldCal Thomas (archive) August 11, 2003 | Print | Send Ronald Reagan was an actor who became governor of California, so why not Arnold Schwarzenegger? Or so the argument goes. Why not actor Gary Coleman, then, or any of the other candidates for whom inexperience, not to mention cluelessness about what's needed to repair the damage done to the state's economy, seems to be their main qualification?President George Bush has endorsed Schwarzenegger, saying he would make a good governor. Based on what? The president couldn't possibly know what Schwarzenegger stands for, because no one else seems to...

George Gorton, campaign consultant for Arnold Schwarzenegger, says of the recall, "This election will be about leadership, not issues." California must hope he's dead wrong. Leadership in politics can't be separated from where the leader wants to go. A governor isn't a general, who can order his troops to march west by day, then east by night. He or she can't issue orders and command assent or obedience. A governor defines a vision and values, identifies challenges and persuades the public to come along. It's precisely by the route of bleeding the content from gubernatorial elections that California arrived at...

Seven columns for the price of one: Like just about everyone in the media, I was stunned by Arnold Schwarzenegger's announcement Wednesday evening that he WILL be a candidate for governor of California after all. I really thought that if Ah-nold was going to become "The Running Man," he wouldn't have done it via a taped appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." Kudos to Leno for getting the scoop, but why didn't Arnold opt for a live announcement and press conference with wall-to-wall coverage, held at a more deadline-friendly hour in a more serious venue? But now I...

<p>Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan took himself out of the running for governor late Thursday and endorsed Arnold Schwarzenegger.</p> <p>"I have decided not to enter the race for governor," Riordan said in a three-paragraph statement.</p> <p>"This recall election offers us a choice: We can either continue with politics as usual in California, or we can elect someone who works on behalf of every Californian, not just the special interests," he said. "As I have said many times, I believe Arnold Schwarzenegger is a very talented man who would make an excellent governor."</p>

Listening to Arnold say “Collyvornia” during his press conference, I realized that his opponents can’t even mock his accent anymore. Let’s say they run an ad that features a musclebound lummox speaking in those dulcet Austrian tones; let’s say a reporter asks Arnie to comment. He could go dead serious, and say “Ah dunt beleaf in making fun uf an immigranz ahgcent.” Beat. Big toothy grin. “Unless Ahm togging about myszelf. Zen vut ze hell.” Fifty thousand more votes, right there. If Arnold is the savior of California, I guess that means that Jesse Ventura was his John the Baptist....

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-me-arnold26jul26234425,1,2296062.story?coll=la-headlines-politics CALIFORNIA In or Out? Schwarzenegger Following a Familiar Script By Claudia Eller, James Rainey and Michael Cieply Times Staff Writers July 26, 2003 During his long reign as Hollywood's favorite action hero, Arnold Schwarzenegger was famous for what industry insiders called "The Arnold Sweepstakes." The movie muscle man reveled in putting Hollywood on hold — making A-list producers, directors and writers wait until the last moment before deciding to go ahead with a project. Suddenly, California politicians are getting a taste of that Hollywood waiting game. A string of potential candidates in the state's Oct. 7 recall election are...

TOTAL RECALL? Word is Republican backers of the bid to recall Gov. Gray Davis will declare by this weekend that they've got enough signatures to make the ballot. "They are very, very positive and claim they have the 900,000 they need," said one state GOP leader who has been in close touch with the recall advocates. "The goal is still to get 1.2 million signatures, but they feel they have enough right now to suspend the professional (read paid) signature operation," our insider said. "They'll still be collecting more names, but it will be just a dribble." If true, then...

(Snippet from the Sacramento Bee)-- One of the great (or not-so-great) things about modern elections is the collection of people who call your house in days leading up to the contest. Sure, they're automated recordings, but when else can one boast of receiving telephone greetings from Gov. Gray Davis and actor Martin Sheen on the same night? And locally, none other than actor and gubernatorial-hopeful-extraordinaire Arnold Schwarzenegger was heard calling residents in Elk Grove to solicit their support for Guy Houston, a successful Republican candidate for the state Assembly. "This is Arnold Schwarzenegger asking you to vote for former Dublin...