[John Jorsett]

The fact is, Schwarzenegger participated in only one debate and limited himself mostly to brief interviews with political reporters and controlled encounters with friendly voters.

Hmm. Remind you of anyone else in the race?

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[Reagan Man]

Schwarzenegger's people ran a good campaign and stayed on message after a very slow start. Now with the campaign over, comes the difficult part. Can Arnold govern? Can the Wilsonites balance the budget, without raising taxes? We shall see if the trust Californian's gave to Schwarzenegger, will be honored.

[At _War_With_Liberals]

"It says a lot about the Terminator's bid for governor of the nation's most populated state that the appearance by a comic impersonator at a Schwarzenegger event was perfectly in keeping with the campaign's logic.
"

And they continue the mantra:

Arnold dumb and incompetent, Davis and liberals the most qualified, the voters stupid and easily duped.

[marsh2]

To a ceratin extent, politics is theater. When I look back at my race, I see three candidates who stood up and debated on issues that they knew little about - particularly the budget process. The "shoulds" now look niave in the light of day, but voters don't really want the complex details of why things can't be done.

I was a land use specialist. After election, I found myself making decisions in hundreds of different areas far removed from land use. And, as a junior on the Board, I was assigned to all the social services committees no one wanted.

You find that there is not enough time to micromanage. You spend your efforts on developing good relationships and communicating with key people involved in the issues. When there is a "hot spot," you may sit in on their processes to learn the system from the bottom up, but mostly to let folks know you want to understand their work, understand their difficulties, that you are interested in them and in finding solutions.

Leadership is the business of communicating vision and building relationships. You visit one on one rather than call. You manage by walking around. You never just hand them a solution, direct them to implement it and monitor that they have followed through.

You may personally shepherd a particular "pet" project or issue - like transportation. Emphasizing a key area for progress is difficult as focus is drawn away by so many demands and crisis. You have to constantly put it in front of your face and track progress in order to motivate you to keep pushing it.

People want the theater. They want the parades, the picnics, the hand shaking, the walk-abouts. They want you to recognize them. It is an emotionally draining part of the job as you are opening yourself to access by anyone with an issue. The longer you stay in the job, the greater the tendancy to insulate yourself from folks. It is human nature and you have to fight against it.

I think Arnold is fully equipped in skills for a leadership role. His advisors and others will help him to hone the vision he will communicate. The skills are the hardest part.

[nothingnew]

"I've never met a man named "Dana" that I liked."...nothingnew/circa 2003

FMCDH