Sen. John McCain
joined Gov. Schwarzenegger on the campaign trail yesterday, but that didn't get the governor any love from the LA Times:
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has collected more than $76 million in contributions since running in the recall election two years ago, campaigned Monday with U.S. Sen. John McCain, who once called former Gov. Gray Davis' push to raise $26 million "disgr\raceful."
"McCain added that he had advised Schwarzenegger to pursue campaign finance reform once the special election is past."
McCain's money quote came when he spoke about Prop. 77, the governor's push for redistricting reform. ""Today more people lose their seats in the Politburo in Havana than in the Congress of America," McCain said. "We need to have competitive races for the Legislature. ... We have to have a clash of ideas."
But he did dish a little of that trademarked "straight talk", "chided" the governor for using Bush-like staged "town hall" meetings
stocked like a trout pond with invited guests. ""The benefit of an open town hall meeting is one that you get to hear a lot of different views, and two it has credibility," said McCain."
And McCain underscored
some of the problems the governor may have in communicating a message on one of his ballot measures, according to the Mercury News. "The Arizona Republican, who is considered likely to run for president in 2008, endorsed the four main ballot measures the governor is promoting, although McCain later said he was ``
not as clear'' on one of them ``as I should be,'' referring to Proposition 76, which would impose spending limits and give the governor new power to cut the budget.
The governor will
hit the talk radio circuit today to help gin up support for his initiatives.
The Bee says the
strategy for the Prop. 77 campaign is beginning to distinguish itself from the rest of the governor's initiatives. "We believe this will pass if it's viewed as a nonpartisan reform effort, which it is," said [proponent
Bill Mundell]. "If it's viewed as a Republican power play, then it will fail."
Is there such a thing as
being too Berkeley? That's exactly what the editorial board of the UC Berkeley student newspaper accuses the leader of a fledgling Recall Arnold movement of being. "It's not that we don't like quixotic lost causes-they do have a place in this world, mainly in picaresque novels by Miguel de Cervantes. But when one such cause goes political and makes California the laughingstock of the states, not so much. With any luck, the larger papers will soon realize how tired an issue this is and stop panting for another gut-busting episode of California's political foibles. We, of course, would never devote any print space to it."
Neither would we.
One day after declaring the legislative year a bust, Dan Walters
finds a silver lining, with the signing of a bill to promote vocational education. "Just before adjournment in September, a bill was drafted under the authorship of Sen.
Jack Scott, D-Pasadena, a former community college president, to reallocate the $20 million to the state community college system, which is to develop cooperative programs with high schools. Schwarzenegger went to Pasadena City College with Scott, the college's former president, to sign the bill, tour CTE classes, and bring the issue some media attention.
In HRH News,
Prince Charles is
coming to the Bay Area in November, but nobody is quite sure why.
"
David Kidd, proprietor of You Say Tomato British Specialty Foods in San Francisco, is cautiously optimistic business might spike, for a bit. ``He's definitely overdue'' for a visit, said Kidd, who hails from Stoke-on-Trent."
British specialty foods? Moving on...
From our
Cowboys and Indians Files, the LA Times reports a man was shot while trying to
hijack a train -- with a bow and arrow. "The attempted train-jacking was "the first time I remember in 25 years something like this ever happening," Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis said. "How many times does somebody come and take over a train with a bow and arrow?"