Arnold's attention deficit

The main problem for California has been its budget. Arnold ran on the pledge to ease the state's troubles without raising taxes. So far he's bought a lot of lipstick, but a pig is still a pig:

Despite rosy predictions from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that the rebounding economy will help lead the state out of its financial predicament, Hill said even consistently growing revenues would not stop deficits from hovering around $10 billion into the 2008-09 budget year.

"In our view, the size and persistence of the shortfall, particularly in light of both a strengthening economy as well as general fund revenues, means the state needs to take action now," said Hill, who has been advising the Legislature on fiscal matters for nearly 20 years. She estimated the state would have $2.1 billion more in revenue next year than previously predicted.

Her report came on the one-year anniversary of Schwarzenegger's inauguration. Critics believe his biggest failure to date is not tackling the state's budget problems.

"We really haven't addressed the large structural deficit facing California," Hill said. "While we've made some progress, there is still a lot of heavy lifting to go."

General agreement here in CA is that someone is going to have to raise taxes. Democrats in the Senate are already suggesting it, but Arnold is afraid to do anything leading up to his reelection that would violate his promise or make him look bad.

I'm hoping the Democrats can find a viable candidate to run in 2006, and if they can it could be an interesting race.