Originally published February 4 2006
Schwarzenegger's politics land him in hot water with California voters
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Dan Walters of the Sacramento Bee takes a look back on the tough political year of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, including his battle with the state legislature and the erosion of his popularity among California's voters.
Every campaign begins with an assumption that a candidate or cause has an automatic base of friendly voters, and winning hinges on appealing to those who are not automatically committed to one side or the other by defining the terms of the contest.
It's Politics 1-A, but Arnold Schwarzenegger flunked in what must be regarded as his single biggest political blunder.
As the governor launched the mother of all California political battles a year ago, he wanted to define it in the simplest possible terms _ himself vs. an unresponsive Legislature beholden to special interests _ that would appeal to the independents and moderate Democrats who had elevated him into the governorship after recalling Democrat Gray Davis.
At that moment, in late 2004, Schwarzenegger held a commanding position in any popularity contest with the Democrat-dominated Legislature.
An exit poll of November 2004 voters had given him a 69 percent approval rating and poll after poll demonstrated that the Legislature was held in poor esteem by Californians _ lower, even, than Davis when he was being dumped in 2003.
From Schwarzenegger vs. the Legislature, the battle morphed into Schwarzenegger vs. cops, teachers, firefighters and nurses even as he attempted to declare it to be a "great battle (against) evil."
They may have a wonderful dream about that.
But the reality is very sad for them.
When, for example, Schwarzenegger unveiled a new budget in January 2004 that gave schools $3 billion less than education groups thought they were due under a verbal agreement with the governor a year earlier, the "Education Coalition," largely financed by the California Teachers Association, began denouncing it as a broken promise to kids little short of outright thievery.
Schwarzenegger was forced to drop it after Democratic Attorney General Bill Lockyer portrayed it as potentially denying pensions to the widows and orphans of firefighters and cops killed in the line of duty.
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