Voters Reject Shwarzenegger Initiatives

Most importantly here folks is that the Repug efforts to redistrict
the state of California, similar to what they did in Texas and now
Florida, were rejected in California. I feel a sigh of relief knowing
that his re-election does not look likely.

Voters Reject Shwarzenegger Initiatives
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1294893
Gov. Schwarzenegger's Re-Election Hopes Dim After Voters Reject His
Four Ballot Initiatives

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - In a stinging rebuke from voters who elected him two
years ago, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's efforts to reshape state
government were rejected during a special election that darkened his
prospects for a second term.

The Republican governor and former Hollywood actor, who likes to say
he can sell anything, on Tuesday saw all four of his signature ballot
proposals rejected.

The election pitted the once-dominant Republican governor against two
of California's powerhouse political forces public employee unions
and Democrats who control the Legislature.

The unions spent millions of dollars to beat Schwarzenegger's
propositions to limit the use of their member dues for political
purposes, cap state spending, redraw legislative districts and
restrict public school teacher tenure.

It was a sobering evening for a man once considered among the most
popular politicians in America. The contest represented the biggest
test yet of a faltering Schwarzenegger's leadership.

Voters overwhelmingly defeated Proposition 76, the governor's
centerpiece proposal to slow the growth of state spending.
Proposition 77, which would have redrawn legislative and
congressional districts, was knocked down by a similar margin.

Failing by slimmer spreads were Proposition 74, a plan to make
teachers work longer to achieve tenure, and Proposition 73, which
would have restricted political spending by public employee unions.

Poll after poll showed it was an election that Californians didn't
want, with a total lineup of eight initiatives that didn't connect
with every day issues such as gas prices, housing costs and the war
in Iraq.

Schwarzenegger's conflict with the unions made him a target for
teachers, nurses and firefighters. Their television advertising blitz
helped push his popularity ratings to record lows.

Union leaders and Democrats who opposed the governor chanted "sweep,
sweep" at their Sacramento victory party. "I'm very grateful to
Arnold Schwarzenegger for really working people up," said Deborah
Burger, president of the California Nurses Association.

Schwarzenegger's proposals to curb spending and weaken unions
inflamed passions on both sides, partly because of the election's
roughly $50 million cost in a state that repeatedly faces budget
shortfalls.

Appearing before supporters at a Beverly Hills hotel after learning
that at least two of his initiatives had failed, a smiling governor
did not concede defeat.

"Tomorrow, we begin anew," Schwarzenegger said, his wife Maria
Shriver beside him. "I feel the same tonight as that night two years
ago ... You know with all my heart, I want to do the right thing for
the people of California."

Though some of the measures were complex, Schwarzenegger cast the
election in simple terms: Support him and the state moves forward
vote no and protect a broken system of government in Sacramento.

"I guess I didn't do a good enough job to convince them otherwise,"
the governor said of voters.

Tim Wong, 48, an independent from Belmont, called the election "a
waste of the meager money we have."

"These propositions were a diversion from the important issues," Wong
said. "It's all show and no substance."

In other ballot measures decided Tuesday:

Texas voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional ban on same-sex
marriage, making their state the 19th to take that step. In Maine,
however, voters rejected a conservative-backed proposal to repeal the
state's new gay-rights law.

Voters in the Texas community of White Settlement, named 160 years
ago after white settlers moved into a mostly Indian area,
emphatically rejected a proposal to change the town's name to West
Settlement.

In Ohio, where the 2004 presidential election was marked by
complaints of unfair election practices, four election-overhaul
measures backed by Democratic-leaning groups were on the ballot, but
all were defeated. One of the failed items would have taken
redistricting powers away from legislators.