Best Idea EVER for Keeping Kids in School!

posted by Zach Patton

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants his tank back.

Apparently, he bought an M47 tank from the Austrian army and then lent it to an Ohio military museum in 2000.

Now, concerned about the vehicle's upkeep, Schwarzenegger has asked to have it back. It was shipped out to him last week.

The Guv's plans for the tank?  No lie:

...he plans to use it to drive around inner-city children who do well in school, say "no" to drugs and avoid gangs in the Los Angeles area.

Two words: Awe. Some.

Hope for Spitzer and O'Malley

posted by Josh Goodman

Lou Jacobson has a column at Stateline.org about the political comebacks of two governors, Alabama's Bob Riley and California's Arnold Schwarzenegger. To me, the lesson is that two new governors, Maryland's Martin O'Malley and New York's Eliot Spitzer, shouldn't despair.

Here's what Jacobson has to say about Riley:

After Alabamians in 2003 voted down a $1.2 billion tax hike proposed by Riley in his first year in office, he seemed like a dead man walking. Riley's own state GOP had fought the tax hike. National anti-tax advocates made the tax plan – and Riley himself – public enemy No. 1.

Today, O'Malley's approval ratings are mired in the thirties because he just signed a $1.4 billion tax increase. Riley was reelected easily last year. Whether O'Malley will have a tougher time recovering, since his tax increase actually passed, is open to debate.

As for Schwarzenegger, his problems had a lot to do with his my-way-or-the-highway style and his disagreements with the Democratic legislature ("girly men," etc.). Spitzer and the Republican Senate President, Joe Bruno, have feuded to the point that the Albany Times Union has a helpful "Spitzer vs. Bruno" section on their Web site.

Spitzer actually may have an easier time making a comeback than Schwarzenegger did. There's a decent chance that the Democrats will win the New York Senate this year for the first time since 1974, which would alleviate many of Spitzer's problems.

My bigger question is whether anything (short of indictment) that happens in an executive's first year in office matters much for their long-term political prospects. Voters may not be forgiving, but they sure seem forgetful.

Embrace of the Governator

posted by Alan Greenblatt

Governor Arnold will endorse McCain shortly, which seems about right. Both are pro-business Republicans who have been able to find common cause with Democrats from time to time. It's a little surprising to me that Schwarzenegger waited to endorse McCain until he emerged as the pretty clear frontrunner, but then, for such a big name, Schwarzenegger has not been one to inject himself much into national GOP politics.

The New York Times offers a portrait of the California political and economic landscape and finds it -- shocker -- varied and large.

I Can Hardly Wait

posted by Josh Goodman

November 2010 is only about a 1,000 days away, so it's high time we had some news about the election after next. Finally, we do.

In California, where the Governator will be term-limited, the outgoing CEO of eBay, Meg Whitman, is mulling a bid for governor. The Los Angeles Times has the scoop on Whitman, who is a Republican and a billionaire.

Despite Schwarzenegger's success, the California Republican Party still doesn't have much of a bench, which makes a self-funding outsider like Whitman more intriguing. The Times notes that the only other Republican statewide elected official in California, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner (also a billionaire), is another possible candidate.

Illinois' situation is different. Governor Rod Blagojevich is in his second term, but he isn't term-limited. Nonetheless, the governor's legal troubles and his unpopularity raise questions about whether he will run again.   

Recent finance reports seem to indicate that fellow Democrats aren't waiting for Blagojevich to decide. Blagojevich is still raising a ton of money (though he's spending quite a bit of it on legal bills), but so are Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Comptroller Dan Hynes, both other Democrats. Primary challenge, anyone?

Finally, Alabama Governor Bob Riley, a Republican, is pledging to help his party raise $7 million to win control of the state legislature in 2010. Democrats have big majorities in both houses (61-43 in the House and 22-13 in the Senate), although the party loyalty of some of those legislators is open to debate.

There are no legislative elections in the state this year -- Alabama is one of those strange states where legislators from both houses serve four-year terms. Riley is term-limited in 2010, so this fundraising push should make executive-legislative relations interesting for the rest of the governor's term.

posted by Josh Goodman

November 2010 is only about a 1,000 days away, so it's high time we had some news about the election after next. Finally, we do.

In California, where the Governator will be term-limited, the outgoing CEO of eBay, Meg Whitman, is mulling a bid for governor. The Los Angeles Times has the scoop on Whitman, who is a Republican and a billionaire.

Despite Schwarzenegger's success, the California Republican Party still doesn't have much of a bench, which makes a self-funding outsider like Whitman more intriguing. The Times notes that the only other Republican statewide elected official in California, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner (also a billionaire), is another possible candidate.

Illinois' situation is different. Governor Rod Blagojevich is in his second term, but he isn't term-limited. Nonetheless, the governor's legal troubles and his unpopularity raise questions about whether he will run again.   

Recent finance reports seem to indicate that fellow Democrats aren't waiting for Blagojevich to decide. Blagojevich is still raising a ton of money (though he's spending quite a bit of it on legal bills), but so are Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Comptroller Dan Hynes, both other Democrats. Primary challenge, anyone?

Finally, Alabama Governor Bob Riley, a Republican, is pledging to help his party raise $7 million to win control of the state legislature in 2010. Democrats have big majorities in both houses (61-43 in the House and 22-13 in the Senate), although the party loyalty of some of those legislators is open to debate.

There are no legislative elections in the state this year -- Alabama is one of those strange states where legislators from both houses serve four-year terms. Riley is term-limited in 2010, so this fundraising push should make executive-legislative relations interesting for the rest of the governor's term.

This Train Is Bound for Glory?

posted by Josh Goodman

Once, Californians were scheduled to vote on whether to fund high-speed rail in 2000. And in 2004. And in 2006. The timing never seemed quite right, so lawmakers kept delaying the vote. Now the vote is scheduled for this year, but, surprise, surprise, the situation is getting complicated.

The project aspires to be the first of its kind in the Unites States. Los Angeles and San Francisco would be linked by trains traveling at 220 miles per hours, easily the fastest in the United States.

The biggest problem has always been the price. The ballot measure would authorize the sale of $9.9 billion in bonds, which would pay for only a quarter of the estimated cost.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, an on-again-off-again supporter of high-speed rail, favors modifying the measure to only allow the bonds to be sold once private investors commit money of their own. Rail supporters in the legislature contend that the state will have to sell the bonds before the private sector will bite.

From an Associated Press article, it doesn't sound as though Schwarzenegger will win this battle. But the bigger threat to the project may come from the voters. As the AP notes:

Schwarzenegger wants the November ballot to include many of his own spending proposals. They would include a $14 billion health care reform plan and $38.3 billion in new borrowing for school and university buildings, water projects and courthouse construction.

In addition, the state is facing a $14.4 billion budget deficit over the next year-and-a-half.

The budget situation seems likely to make voters more skeptical of large-scale borrowing. In other words, after all of the delays, California may end up voting on high-speed rail at precisely the wrong moment.

Teflon Terminator

posted by Josh Goodman

California faces major budget problems and, after a period of post-partisan bliss, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has been sparring more often with legislative leaders in recent months. So has that hurt the Governator's political standing?

The Los Angeles Times has the answer: No.

Schwarzenegger's job approval among registered voters is 60 percent, even though 58 percent say the state is on the wrong track.

VOTESTRONG?

posted by Josh Goodman

Arnold Schwarzenegger's story goes like this:

-He was a celebrity actor and bodybuilder with no political experience.

-He championed a popular ballot measure in California to expand after-school programs.

-Rumors circulated that he was interested in running for political office, but the idea seemed implausible.

-He ran for governor, won and was reelected.

Lance Armstrong's story goes like this:

-He was a celebrity cyclist with no political experience.

-He championed a popular ballot measure in Texas to expand cancer research.

-Rumors circulated that he was interested in running for political office.

Sounds implausible to me.

Party vs. Principle

posted by Alan Greenblatt

In Gabriel Garcia Marquez's celebrated novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, Colonel Aureliano Buendia leads the Liberal revolutionary forces, without success, through nearly 20 years of civil war. Eventually, his political advisers suggest that he renounce most of his party's most closely-held positions and, in essence, adopt the more popular Conservative platform, even though it represents everything they have fought against for so long.

What this means, Buendia concludes, is "that all we're fighting for is power."

At what point does a political party have to realize that its ideas aren't selling and that it has to adapt? And how far should its leaders be willing to go before they fall entirely into the realm of expediency and betray their own core values?

These questions come to mind with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Saturday address to the state Republican convention. "In movie terms, we are dying at the box office. We are not filling the seats," he said.

He urged his fellow Republicans to reach out to the state's growing ranks of independents. He said that Californians favor the GOP on limited government and lower taxes, but demand comprehensive health coverage and want politicians "to do something more about climate change than simply doubt it."

Schwarzenegger, of course, is an anomaly, not just because of his stardom but because of his willingness to work with the Democratic legislative majority on the issues just mentioned and many others. His address was obviously a public answer to the Republican legislators who refused to join with him in passing a budget, delaying it for weeks.

It could be argued that Schwarzenegger's words are pretty empty. He really hasn't done much, if anything, to elect other moderates -- from either party.

At any rate, it doesn't appear that the California GOP is ready to concede that its conservatism is out of step with the majority of state voters. State Senator Tom McClintock, a leader of California conservatives, told the convention a day after Schwarzenegger's address, "We can win some short-term victories by compromising our philosophy for political expediency. I've actually watched some people do that. But a party that does that soon discovers it has ceased to be a party. First, it loses its soul. And then it loses its supporters."

Only Arnold

posted by Alan Greenblatt

Like many another Boomer, Arnold Schwarzenegger is about to turn 60. In honor of the occasion, much of the current issue of Muscle and Fitness magazine is devoted to the former Mr. Olympia.

The governor gamely poses with life-size blowups of himself in younger, buffer days and offers lengthy ruminations about his former bodybuilding regimens. Unfortunately, the magazine's Web site barely gives you a taste of the package, but the issue was on sale at the checkstand at my local Safeway, so it shouldn't be too hard to find.

Inbox Inadequacies

posted by Josh Goodman

Governors offices and I don't see eye to eye. Many (though not all) of them seem to think e-mail is just like snail mail -- respond in a couple of days and you've done well. I expect my e-mails to be treated more like phone calls: If you don't answer immediately, at least acknowledge my message the same day.

I discovered this difference of opinion when I tested their response speeds to electronic messages. I e-mailed every governor (avoiding contacts explicitly for the media, so as to mimic the experience of constituents asking for help), telling them about my test and requesting a brief acknowledgement of my message ASAP. Only half got back to me within a day.

You can find my whole report, including the performance of every state, here. Some observations that didn't make it into that article:

Not to pick on poor Governor Corzine, but I found his e-mail Web form irritating. Before I could e-mail him, I had to choose from a list of topics. I could voice my opposition to the state bear hunt or demand that my 401K contributions be taxed, but didn't have a choice of "Other" or "None of the Above," which is what I wanted for my project. (Ultimately, I opted for "Invitations and Special Letters" because I thought my letter was pretty special.)

A few states have ramble-proofed their Web forms with strict limits on the number of characters of text a writer can submit. Here's a rule of thumb for governments: If a constituent can't submit Lincoln's famously concise Gettysburg Address, you've gone too far. That's true of the governors offices in New Hampshire, Vermont and Oregon.