Free Republic

The chances of another maverick joining Maldonado appear to be fading. Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Atwater, has been specifically targeted because of his being somewhat less conservative than other senators, but he's reacted to the pressure -- including a Democratic Party threat of a recall campaign -- by becoming more adamant. If, as the Field Poll indicates, public pressure is unlikely to crack the GOP solidarity in the Senate, the question now is whether Democrats will feel enough pressure from their constituent groups that are dependent on state financing to give ground on the Jerry Brown demand. This week's rhetorical maneuvers...

In a move that would diminish the clout of his fellow Republicans in the Legislature, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested Monday that he could support eliminating the two-thirds voting requirement for passing future state budgets. "Everyone now has come to the conclusion -- all the leaders -- that we must work, as soon as the budget is over, work on a system that allows us to have a budget on time," the governor said. "If that means we should go and shoot for, as some suggested, a simple majority to pass the budget rather than a two-thirds vote, maybe that's the...

He accused GOP lawmakers of continuing to withhold their votes, even after all their demands related to the budget had been met, in hopes of extracting other policy concessions. "All of a sudden, now we've got to work on this, we've got to work on that," Schwarzenegger said. "So they are adding things. We say today, don't keep adding things. You are hurting people. People in California are suffering. Lay off. Pass the budget." Though Schwarzenegger didn't mention Cogdill by name, he did single out Cogdill's fellow GOP holdout, Sen. Jeff Denham, a Republican whose district includes nearby Merced. Denham,...