The
LA Times online headline says it all: "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no"
Although early absentee ballot returns provided a ray of hope for supports of the governor gathered at the Beverly Hilton, the night turned into a
resounding victory for "no," with all eight measures failing. Part of Stanislaus County, late absentee and provisional ballot votes remain to be counted, however, the margins are sufficient to expect them to hold.
With 99.5% (17637 of 17726) precincts reporting:Proposition 73 - Parental notification: 47.4% Yes, 52.6% No
Proposition 74 - Teacher tenure: 44.9% Yes, 55.1% No
Proposition 75 - Union dues: 46.5% Yes, 53.5% No
Proposition 76 - Budget control: 37.9% Yes, 62.1% No
Proposition 77 - Redistricting: 40.5% Yes, 59.5% No
Proposition 78 - Pharmaceutical drugs: (discounts) 41.5% Yes, 58.5% No
Proposition 79 - Pharmaceutical drugs: (rebates) 38.9% Yes, 61.1% No
Proposition 80 - Electricity regulation: 34.3% Yes, 65.7% No
Michael Finnegan and Robert Salladay
report in the Times: "In a sharp repudiation of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Californians rejected all four of his ballot proposals Tuesday in an election that shattered his image as an agent of the popular will."
"'The people of California are sick and tired of all the fighting, and they are sick and tired of all the negative TV ads,' he told supporters at the Beverly Hilton. He did not concede, saying instead that '
in a couple of days the victories or the losses will be behind us.'"
The focus now will be on the tone struck by Democrats. Sen.
Don Perata and Assembly Speaker
Fabian Nuñez will both hold press conferences today, and we're sure they'll say all the right things about getting back to work, and putting the election behind us. But UC Berkeley's
Bruce Cain says
that may not be so easy.
"Bipartisanship is like virginity," Cain told the Chronicle. "Once lost, it's never recovered."
John Burton put the same thought slightly differently. "Once people start not liking you in politics or show biz, then forget it," Burton said. "It happened to
Gray Davis. The day they wrote checks for the recall, he was f---ed .''
It will now fall to Nuñez and Perata to convince labor groups to play ball. Clearly, labor wasn't happy with the governor's concession Tuesday.
"'
He never apologized once for trashing every one of us,' said
Mike Jimenez, president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn. '
And I can tell you, tomorrow we're not going to apologize for the way this election turned out. Tomorrow starts Round 2.'"
"California Teachers Assn. President
Barbara Kerr told several hundred activists in the ballroom: 'This governor wasted $50 million, and he does not have the courage to apologize to all of you for the trash he talked about you.
He doesn't have the courage to say he was wrong, that we're the real heroes of California.'"
The governor pledged to do his part to bring both sides together.
"'I recognize we also need more bipartisan cooperation to make it all happen, and I promise I will deliver that,' he said."
The governor has
no events planned for today, but will be back in Sacramento Thursday to
hold a Big 5 meeting with legislative leaders. Then, it's off to China to lick his wounds.
But Schwarzenegger spokesman
Todd Harris said the governor would "roll up his sleeves" and work with legislative leaders. ""Maybe the voters didn't buy what we were selling tonight, but
that doesn't mean they don't want reform," said Todd Harris, a spokesman for the governor. "This governor will focus not on looking back, but on looking forward."
Looks like there will be lots of sleeve-rolling, some of it coming from
Phil Angelides, who called the election "a tragic waste for California -- wasted money, wasted effort, wasted time, and wasted opportunities...Now it's time to
roll up our sleeves and get back to the hard work of building a better California."
Perata used the election tide to bury the news of his Senate committee realignment. Get ready for the howls from the tough-on-crime folks as
Carole Migden takes the gavel at Senate Public Safety. Capitol Weekly
has the full breakdown of the new assignments.
Matier and Ross
offer some perspective on the election: "When all is said and done, the amount spent on Tuesday's election in California will
easily surpass the more than $241 million that John Kerry spent running for president last year, and
could even top the $306 million that President Bush spent to win re-election.
For those of you who believe in omens, you may have heard all you needed to know about how the governor's day was going to go as soon as you read about
what happened when he tried to vote.
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger showed up at his Brentwood polling station Tuesday to cast his ballot in the special election — and was
told he had already voted. In Pasadena. Elections officials said a Los Angeles County poll worker had
entered Schwarzenegger's name into an electronic voting touch screen station in Pasadena on Oct. 25. The worker, who was not identified, was testing the voting machine in preparation for early voting that began the next day."
The problem was resolved and Schwarzenegger was allowed to vote -- but not often enough to make a difference.
On ballots around the state:
Los Angeles:
Herb Wesson and
Jose Huizar easily won the right to fill two vacant city council seats. Voters approved a $4 billion facilities bond for Los Angeles Unified, its fourth since 1997.
San Diego In a night that was largely disappointing for Republicans across the country, a bright spot was
Jerry Sanders (53.9%) victory over Donna Frye (46.1%) for mayor.
"Asked why Sanders was outpolling her so heavily from the outset, Frye said, '
Sometimes real change is unsettling to people, and people feel more comfortable with a sort of father figure and someone who tells them there won't be a requirement for great sacrifice.'"
In Contra Costa, voters
rejected a development plan by Pardee Homes, to build 2,500 new homes."Pardee spent more than $3.25 million campaigning for the controversial measure, which is part of a new wave of developer-led ballot initiatives in California and which became the central issue in Tuesday's mayoral and City Council races in Livermore."
