27
2004
Charles' take on Schwarzenegger is a good excuse to check in with our Governor. If ever there was a rich man parading – deliberately and with breath-taking calculation – as a Populist it's Gov. Terminator and his oft-stated desire to go to "the people."
Schwarzenegger has managed to capture a tremendous bipartisan frustration with government and bureaucracy and that should not be dismissed lightly. Now that his experienced legislative opponents are either retired or soon to be packing up their offices, signs of real hand-to-hand combat with the California legislature are quietly building. Schwarzenegger may well call for a special election on his reform packages, some budget stuff, some tax stuff and a bunch of administrative goodies thrown in. And that election – where Schwarzenegger won't really have an opponent, just some vaguely articulated ideas about how government and politics-as-usual – could be a very interesting and very telling contest. Gov. Terminator might not be able to get more Republicans elected to the legislature but he can sure influence how people vote on ballot initiatives. And in a state where the fastest growing voter registration choice is "none of the above" – which hurts partisan Democrats and helps moderate Republicans -- it's easy to see how Schwarzenegger could win and win big.