Following Arnold

The governorship is pretty much the Democrats to lose barring another run by Schwarzenegger, which is no doubt why Republicans are putting pressure on Arnold to announce his intentions sooner than not. Of course, Arnold is more than likely waiting to see the outcome of his so far bungling attempts at a special election to make his decision.

But I dare say that Arnold's power would be bigger outside of California than in it. His popularity here lags because his work as a governor has been about as good as his acting. But outside the state he is still a movie star, and he can fund raise as such without limit. He can drive the Republican agenda in more Republican states. But while California loves their movie stars, they love their liberalism even more.

And the GOP doesn't stand to lose that much, either. The budget problems will continue for years to come unless someone is brave enough to tell the voters that the initiatives they've voted for are bad for the state. And until then, Darrel Issa (oops! Meant Ted Costa and his redistricting initiative currently tied up in the courts. - ed) can bankroll all the initiatives he wants to and claim the public demands them. Thanks to the initiative process, no one is out of power in Sacramento. Not anymore.

But I'll vote for a guy that can put an end to this initiative process. And I'd be interested to know how many people here in the state would follow.