Posted on 01/16/2006 11:02:35 AM PST by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's new joke about his motorcycle crash and veering back to the political center may not be so funny to him — or California — by the end of the year.
"A car pulled out in front of me and I just couldn't make a decision which way to go," he says. "I knew if I turned left that the Republicans would get mad, and I knew if I turned right my wife (a Democrat) would get mad."
"So I crashed right into the car. That was the safer thing to do."
His comment came during a key week in which analysts say he angered the far right and far left, without gaining enough from the moderates he's targeting in an election year.
Not only that, they say, but he was driving his motorcycle without a proper license and won't be cited, which is unsettling to all the rest of the state's drivers, many of whom vote.
In recent days, the Republican governor has introduced a proposed budget for moderates that triggered howls from GOP fiscal conservatives and advocates for the poor.
The Legislature's nonpartisan analyst, Elizabeth Hill, then said his proposed spending plan for 2006-07 moves the state in the "wrong direction," spending more while failing to hack away at the state's ongoing, multibillion-dollar deficit.
And a poll showed a popularity gain among moderates in California, but not enough. He's in a statistical dead heat with Democratic gubernatorial rivals Phil Angelides, the state treasurer; and Steve Westly, the state controller. At the same time, the survey indicated half the voters in California say his failed government-revamp special election last year — when he veered right — made them less likely to vote for him for re-election this year.
"The bad news for the governor is that about half the voters (48 percent) say that Schwarzenegger's decision to call a special election and the defeat of his ballot measures has made them less likely to vote for him for re-election," said Melinda Jackson, director of the Survey and Policy Research Institute at San Jose State University.
"About a quarter of the voters (26 percent) say the special election made them more likely to vote for Schwarzenegger and 20 percent say it had no effect," according to the poll taken as the governor unveiled his 2006 agenda in the State of the State address.
Moreover, "overall judgments about whether California is on the right track or is seriously off on the wrong track continue a downward trend that began last year," the poll says.
A year ago, 52 percent of Californians said the state was on the right track versus 35 percent who said it was on the wrong track.
Now, just 37 percent of Californians say things in the state are on the right track while 50 percent think they are on the wrong track.
"Here again, partisan perceptions reflect Republicans' disappointment in the wake of the November special election, with 42 percent of GOP voters now saying they think things are on the right track, compared to 60 percent in September, and 49 percent saying they are on the wrong track, compared to 32 percent in September," according to the poll. Democrats, while less satisfied on the whole, are slightly more optimistic than they were three months ago, with 31 percent saying the state is on the right track, up from just 22 percent in September, and 58 percent saying it is on the wrong track, down from 70 percent in September.
In an attempt to steer toward the political middle that won him his office in a recall election, Schwarzenegger introduced a budget for next fiscal year that has immediately become controversial.
The spending plan taps economic growth and a cash carryover from this fiscal year to invest billions more in state programs such as education and transportation, while raising no taxes and doing little to cut the ongoing, multibillion-dollar deficit. It also trims health and welfare spending.
"The overall plan moves the state in the wrong direction in terms of reaching its longer-term goal of getting its fiscal house in order," said the legislative analyst.
"Instead of using the current unexpected revenue increases — which are primarily from more volatile revenue sources such as business profits and capital gains — to reduce outstanding obligations, the budget ratchets up ongoing spending by about $2 billion," she said.
Schwarzenegger and his aides discount such assertions.
"This budget continues California on the path of fiscal responsibility and economic recovery," he said.
But fiscal conservatives agree with Hill, while advocacy groups for the poor are attacking more than $300 million in proposed health and welfare cuts.
There are bright spots for the governor, however, including the Democrat-controlled Legislature embracing his ambitious bond-financed infrastructure improvement plans.
And he's received an invitation in the wake of his motorcycle accident: The Safety Center Inc. invited him to enroll in its safety training and licensing education program.
For any republican to be in a dead heat for a statewide CA election is a good accomplishment.
For someone with such a huge Q factor, I'd be very worried about keeping him in the office, which is evident from the way some of his backers have been behaving here on FR threads lately..
Agreed, and as for the CA reaction to his initiatives, they were all good so the CA voters will just have to rot in liberal hell. Let's see, they failed to make teachers accountable, and a slew of other mistakes. They showed exactly why the state is in trouble - a stranglehold by democrats.
NormsRevenge: " I'd be very worried about keeping him in the office"
Do you prefer Democrats Angelides or Westly to Schwarzenegger? It sure seems so from your comment.
I thought this was a conservative forum, not a Democrat one.
I need some help on the recent (November) elections. Most of the votes went around 55 - 45 however, the total voter turnout was only 14%. So, if 55% of 14% tells me only 8% of Californians voted for this/that issue.
When do we let 8% tell us what to do?
Well you're right and the assumption that "Californians" didn't like the initiatives is overblown. But still when you have an election the side with the most votes wins. Shame on sensible people for not bothering to vote.
Show me his conservative side and I'll show ya Gay Paree' ;-)
Being a Conservative is more than a hobby, yaknow.
Look to the actions and apppointments beyond the usual list you sling out of his accomplishments or is that just the necessary price we all must pay as he exercises his propensity to support gay rights and more social programs to spend spend spend on.
You don't just wake up one day and claim to be one, altho since the Repub party went with that new bigger inclusive tent that some seek to peddle as the cure to becoming the Big Dog at the Capitol and on the Hill and beyond in DC.
His scale tilts severely to the left, no matter how much hype you and others try and toss on and even it out.
I see yur new to the Posse crowd .. Or are ya someone we already know? ;-)
Lots of aRnoids on the threads lately, must be an election soon. See ya out there.
Or is that vice versa?
A deflection from both the left and, surprisingly, CAGOP operatives.
Neither the left nor the CAGOP will admit that Schwarzenegger ran as a conservative, not a moderate. For either the left or the CAGOP to admit to this little irony would be to admit that conservative principles still have appeal in California. A suicidal admissions for the left and a bright light placed on their current capitulation for the CAGOP.
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