California Voters

Can Schwarzenegger recover from voters' ballot-box blow? Christian Science Monitor — With bigger-than-life muscles and Austrian accent, Arnold Schwarzenegger sold himself to voters as the populist outsider who would fix California government by giving it back to the people. Six years later, it appears the people are dispatching the former actor with one of his most famous Hollywood rejoinders: “Hasta la vista, baby.” After besting a wide field in the state’s first gubernatorial recall election in 2003, to replace Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, Mr. Schwarzenegger has had a tenure filled with bold successes and bold failures – most notably the rejection of four ballot initiatives in late 2004. Now, with voters soundly rejecting Schwarzenegger’s second round of reforms, experts here are beginning to write his political obituary. click to read complete article

California voters exercise their power -- and that's the problem L. A. Times — Californians are well known for periodic voter revolts, but on Tuesday they did more than just lash out at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature over the state's fiscal debacle. By rejecting five budget measures, Californians also brought into stark relief the fact that they, too, share blame for the political dysfunction that has brought California to the brink of insolvency. click to read complete article

Legislators jump back into budget mess San Francisco Chronicle — California's next budget battle begins this morning as state officials scramble to close a deficit that instantly swelled to $21.3 billion with Tuesday's overwhelming defeat of a package of fiscal ballot measures. "We'll wake up, dust ourselves off and get back to work," said state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, one of the authors of the ballot measures. click to read complete article