Ahnuld facing "Tough Times"

[Panda1]

WaPo

Tough Times For the Terminator
By David S. Broder
Sunday, July 31, 2005; Page B07

SACRAMENTO -- On July 11 Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger scored his biggest victory of the year, signing a budget in which the Democratic-controlled legislature gave him almost everything he wanted in his effort to cure this debt-plagued state government.

But hard on the heels of that triumph, one of Schwarzenegger's aides told me last week, "Ka-chunk, ka-chunk. It was like getting run over by the front and rear wheels of a truck."
...
Arrayed against him is a coalition led by public employee unions and their private-sector allies. They have mounted an expensive ad campaign that has contributed to a severe slump in Schwarzenegger's poll ratings. The Public Policy Institute's July poll put his job approval at 41 percent among likely voters, down 22 points from January.
...
What he cannot do, most observers agree, is regain the status he once enjoyed as a popular hero whose appeal transcends normal partisan and ideological lines. His rhetorical attacks on teachers, nurses and other political foes have polarized voters. The gamble he is taking with a special election is a big one -- and the Terminator is looking wobbly as he approaches it.


California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger listens to the Chief Operating Officer of Blue Cop while touring the garment manufacturer Friday, July 29, 2005, in Vernon, Calif. During his visit, Schwarzenegger announced a new multiagency effort to enforce state labor and tax laws. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)


Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Monday that he would go ahead with a special November election despite a court ruling casting aside one of the California governor's three proposed ballot items. On Thursday, a Sacramento County Superior Court judge threw out a referendum measure that would have changed the way California's legislative districts are drawn. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger rehearses moments before a televised address from his Capitol office, outlining his plan for a special election to deal with several state issues, in Sacramento, California, in this June 13, 2005 file photo. (Pool/Reuters)


California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger during his appearance on 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno', June 24, 2005. Schwarzenegger's approval rating dropped to a new low even before a controversy developed about his hefty side income from fitness magazines, according to a poll released on July 21. Only 34 percent of adult Californians approve of the job Schwarzenegger is doing as governor, compared with 51 percent who disapprove, according to a survey by the Public Policy Institute of California. (Fred Prouser/Reuters)

[Journeyman]

1. If the initiative to require public-sector unions to get. . .

annual approval from their members to use dues for political purposes passes, shouldn't there be a comparable initiative requiring publicly-traded corporations to get annual approval from their shareholders to use corporate profits for political purposes?

[CityZen-X]

2. The Gropenator's Next Movie

The One Term-inator!

[Ernesto]

3. Sounds like he is getting his "butt kicked"..... n-t

[Oerdin]

4. I don't like the anti-unionism

But I am leaning towards the redistricting proposal if it is allowed on the ballot. The reason is currently we have politicians who choose which voters they want by moving district lines instead of voters choosing politicians. I don't like that even if my party is benefiting for that practice. I personally find it as objectionable as Republicans gerrymandering Congressional districts in Texas.

Removing the politicians ability to gerrymander by creating a nonpartisan body which can't consider past voting records, party affiliations, ethnicity, income, and other factors would be a majorly empowering improvement for this states' voters. For once we would actually be able to vote out bums we don't like instead of allowing them to construct "safe districts" which they then lord over for 30 years.

[robertarctor]

5. The operative word is "nonpartisan"

Unfortunately, under the Schwarzenegger plan, "retired judges" would draw the districts. And "retired judges," in California, most likely means old cronies of Pete Wilson and George Deukmejian. The rule of thumb here is that if the G.O.P. is trying so hard to get this on the ballot, it must have some subrosa method of rigging the outcome to Texafy the house districts.

[davidinalameda]

6. that's a great idea

but the districts should take into account income, race, etc because racial minorities and the poor have historically been under-represented

there are a few areas in the state which are under direction by the Justice Dept to make sure that minority voters aren't moved into districts that would dilute voting rights