Arnold gets a win?

The State Supreme Court has ruled that Arnold's redistricting measure can appear on the $45 million dollar special election this fall, but may revisit the ruling if the initiative passes:

The brief order, issued by a 4-2 vote, ends a month-long legal battle between supporters of the initiative, Proposition 77, and Attorney General Bill Lockyer. The attorney general had won two rounds in lower courts. Those judges accepted his argument that the measure should not be voted on in November because its backers had violated election law in the way they got the measure on the ballot.

The Supreme Court overturned those lower-court decisions. But it left open the possibility that the election-law violations could still sink the ballot measure. If the voters approve the measure, the justices said, they might then review the legal issues to determine if it is valid.

So while Arnold's initiative is back on the ballot a) it still lags horribly in the polls and b) it may be overturned in the future. Doesn't sound like much of a victory to me.

Had the ballot measure been kept out of the fall election, Arnold would have been forced to display actual leadership and work with the legislature to change the system. This would have actually brought up Arnold's numbers because he would be both demonstrating his ability to govern and his ability to get what he wants.

Instead he's back behind the eight ball shilling for an unpopular measure in an unpopular special election. So while some may see this as a major victory for Arnold, it will instead be another lead weight to drag him down.