Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is
expected to announce his reelection bid today in San Diego, and the LA Times' Michael Finnegan writes that the announcement is out of necessity. "Timed largely to inspire a burst of donations to his initiative campaigns, Schwarzenegger's noon reelection launch in San Diego could help him narrow the huge financial advantage that labor unions hold as they wage a blistering ad assault against him and his election agenda, strategists say."
"'It seems to be a vendor-driven operation, where you have so many people making so much money from this full-time political operation that no one steps back and says, 'What is the strategy?'' said
Arnold Steinberg, a Republican strategist."
"'No politician is dead until there's a flat line on the monitor," said
Ray McNally, a Republican consultant working on the union campaign against Schwarzenegger's ballot measures. '
He can come back.'"
The governor is expected to
contribute several million dollars of his own money to the special election campaign to help that comeback, reports the Bee. "Schwarzenegger, who has told his aides that the personal contribution is a gesture to potential big donors that he's fully committed to his ballot initiatives, needs the cash so he can start a television ad blitz in the next week or two."
"'It shows people the governor is totally committed to these reforms and that he's willing to put his own money in to help make them happen,'
Mike Murphy, his chief political strategist, said Thursday."
"'We're having no trouble raising money. This is just his way of reinforcing the idea that he's in partnership with the voters and not asking people to do it all themselves.'"
Speaking of Murphy,
Dan Schnur writes in a special
Capitol Weekly online reelection preview, that Murphy is the one who can
turn around the governor's listing political ship -- now that he's focused on California.
Murphy is the political advisor to two governors considered presidential material, and Sen. John McCain. "With at least three other leading national political figures to guide him, in addition to a successful consulting business and a developing career in the entertainment industry,
it wouldn’t be at all surprising if Murphy was devoting less time and attention to California politics. At the same time, it had become clear that the rest of
Schwarzenegger’s external political operation (with the clear exception of his fundraising team) was not clicking. While the governor’s administration staff was holding down their end inside the Capitol,
his campaign advisors had allowed the opposition to seize control of the debate surrounding this year’s special election. As a result, Schwarzenegger has spent most of the year under assault,
without much help from his political consultants in either mounting a defense or developing a counter-offensive." But the story has a happy Republican ending. Promise.
GOP conventioneers gathered in Anaheim this weekend
will be hoping for the comeback, writes Martin Wisckol in the OC Register. "'Anytime you go in and try to change the status quo like the governor has, you have people who rear their heads in pain and strike back,' said
Scott Baugh, Orange County GOP chairman. 'Arnold has been getting hammered by the (labor) unions for months, and he's just begun to fight back. I think we have to wait to see the election results before we draw any conclusions.'"
Meanwhile, Steve Lopez
delivers advice to the governor on his announcement day. "Three words of advice, Arnold, and I've said this to you before:"
"Read Maria's book."
"Did you know that 'fear can be your best teacher,' or that it's possible to 'learn from your mistakes,' to mention just two kernels of wisdom in Maria's 62-page bestseller?"
"She may want you back home, but as you said, the job in Sacramento is far from done. And I love you more than she does."
The Orange County Register takes a look at
the new ad against Proposition 76, funded by the California Teachers Association. On the claim that the governor "broke his promise" to education, the Register writes. "When the governor was trying to balance last year's budget, he struck a deal with the education community in which schools agreed to accept $2 billion less than promised under Proposition 98, to be restored in the future.
There was no commitment to restore the money this year."
Speaking of Prop. 76, Fresno Mayor
Alan Autry has resigned his post on the board of the California League of Cities because
the league did not endorse the governor's spending initiative. "I can't in good conscience be a member of a board that is so blatantly politically driven by special-interest groups," Autry told the Fresno Bee Thursday."
The guv's acting chief of staff,
Peter Siggins, and other top gubernatorial aides will have a
90-minute sit-down with gay rights advocates the Chronicle reports. After the meeting, the governor will still veto
Mark Leno's gay marriage bill.
In
Our Kids Win Too! news: The gov
tapped Melissa Meith to run the state lottery while a national search is conducted. Meith is currently general counsel.
