[quote][color=red]Schwarzenegger’s Popularity Soars - GOP Sees Clout as Asset to Bush[/color]
LOS ANGELES – In a place where happy endings are an industry, the new actor-turned-governor is trying to produce another one–so far with surprising success.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s approval rating is soaring and most Californians think the state is headed for economic recovery. As voters cast ballots in Tuesday’s primary election there is intense attention being paid to the influence the new Republican governor may have on the dynamic of voting in a state that in recent years had been solidly Democratic.
Much of Schwarzenegger’s political future–and that of the state’s beleaguered Republican Party --is riding on two critical ballot measures championed by the governor as the best–perhaps the only–way out of California’s massive fiscal crisis.
he’s been doing a great job since he was elected. all you have to do is look at the praise he gets from his liberal adversaries to see that.
i wonder if any of the forumosa posters who said he was unfit to be governor will swallow their pride and admit they were wrong.
[quote]LOS ANGELES (AP) - Californians overwhelmingly approved a plan Tuesday to borrow a record $15 billion to bail out the state budget, handing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a crucial victory in his bid to turn around the world’s sixth-largest economy.
A companion measure that would require a balanced budget also easily passed. Both measures had to be approved for either to take effect.
With 34 percent of precincts reporting, Schwarzenegger’s borrowing plan - Proposition 57 - was favored by 61 percent of voters. The companion measure - Proposition 58 - had 71 percent.
“Californians have gone to the polls and flexed their muscles and let their voices be heard,” Schwarzenegger said in his victory speech in Santa Monica. “California is back on track.”
Schwarzenegger used his celebrity and political capital to build support for the bond measure, the centerpiece of his plan to solve the state’s financial woes without what he warned would be “Armageddon” budget cuts or higher taxes.
Barely a third of likely voters supported Schwarzenegger’s borrowing plan a month ago, but the former actor and bodybuilder used his enormous clout with voters to get the measure passed. He barnstormed the state in support of the measure and helped raise $10 million for an advertising blitz that flooded the airwaves.
Last week, Schwarzenegger held a rally at Universal Studios with actor Rob Lowe and threw T-shirts to supporters. On Monday, he went to Jay Leno’s “The Tonight Show” to tout the bond measure alongside the man he ousted - former Democratic Gov. Gray Davis.
It is only the second time in modern California political history that voters eventually approved a ballot measure which trailed in early polls. “We are talking political steroids,” said Jack Pitney, a government professor at Claremont McKenna College. “He can claim credit for turning around public opinion.”
Sen. Kennedy: Schwarzenegger Should Be Eligible for Presidential Run
Sen. Edward Kennedy believes his niece’s husband, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, should be allowed to run for president. Whether he would cross party lines to endorse him is another matter.
Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday he supports a constitutional amendment allowing anyone who has been a U.S. citizen for at least 20 years to run for the White House.