Poor Arnold. Homeboy just can't catch a break. Weeks of bad news and sagging poll numbers seemed close to reversing with the budget deal, but then came news that Arnold's been making $8 million from muscle magazines while simultaneously signing legislation that helped their advertisers. Ouch. Before the story broke, Arnold's approval rating was dismal 34%, 4% behind President Bush which, in California, is a real trick. After the scandal broke? God knows.
The bottom line is that the Republican's Great Austrian Hope hates governing. He doesn't like crafting bills, working with legislators, balancing interest group, or anything else. He likes appearing in front of people. He likes cutting commercials. He likes giving interviews. So he's attempting to create some weird, quasi-direct democracy in California that'll allow him to simply sidestep the legislative process altogether. Of course, you can't do that, the results don't work.
Michael Hiltzik, in a great post, gives voice to the emerging CW that Arnold's ready to quit, that he'll take 2006 as an opportunity to turn it over to another. It's very possible. The spectacle of Arnold Schwarzenegger losing to the bespectacled, geeky Greek treasurer won't do his image any favors and I wouldn't be surprised if he declared victory and returned, faux-triumphant, to the movies. It'll really depend on the success of his ballot initiatives this Fall. Republicans know that but, more to the point, Democrats know it. If these get rejected, Arnold's a lame duck.
It's going to be a war.
