Running behind

Today is the constitutional deadline for state lawmakers to begin addressing the current budget year's deficit. Of course, if they fail to act, nothing really happens except a little bad press. But both the Assembly and Senate are slated to take up billions in cost-saving and revenue generating measures today.

Gov. Schwarzenegger is in Washington today. And as he prepares to meet with President Obama, the governor made the rounds of the Sudnay talk shows and scolded Republicans for not cooperating with the President.

Michael Rothfeld reports, ""I find it interesting that you have a lot of the Republicans running around and pushing back on the stimulus money and saying this doesn't create any new jobs," said Schwarzenegger, who has frequently criticized national Republicans in the past, often on Sunday talk shows. "And then they go out and they do the photo ops and they are posing with the big check and they say, 'Isn't this great. Look what the kind of money I provide you for the state.' ... It doesn't match up."

Schwarzenegger, in Washington for the National Governors Assn. conference, has a private meeting scheduled with Obama for Monday. He is looking for more federal aid for California, and had kind words for the Democratic president.

"I don't want to beat up on my Republican colleagues, but I think it's kind of politics rather than thinking about only one thing, and this is, how do we support the president?" he said. "How do we support him and do everything we can in order to stimulate the economy?"

Wait, isn't this the sam guy who dissed the president's health care plan?

Meanwhile, Wyatt Buchanan contemplates the "B" word.  "California's dire and ongoing budget predicament is raising a tough - and touchy - question about the state's finances, one that some at the Capitol do not want discussed: Is California bankrupt?

Paul Krugman looks at the California death spiral, and says the state eloquently makes the case for the need for universal health care.

"But the main point is this: California’s death spiral is a reminder that our health care system is unraveling, and that inaction isn’t an option. Congress and the president need to make reform happen — now."

Just in case Gavin Newsom does get into the race for lieutenant govenror, Democrat Janice Hahn has released an online video of Newsom dissing the office while he was a candidate for governor.

Shane Goldmacher looks at the nine -- count 'em, nine -- candidates for attorney general.

"The job of chief state law enforcement officer comes with broad powers to investigate, regulate and prosecute in the nation's most populous state. And three former attorneys general -- Earl Warren, Pat Brown and George Deukmejian -- have gone on to be governor in the modern era; Brown is bidding this year to make it four.

Money is a key barometer of a candidate's chances, especially in California.

Among the Democrats, Kamala Harris, 45, outpaced her opponents to collect $2.2 million last year, some it from such Hollywood heavyweights as Steven Spielberg and David Geffen. PBS news anchor Gwen Ifill has called Harris, who is half African American and half Indian, "the female Barack Obama."

Just wondering -- is that still a good thing?

And finally, from our No Subject Let Behind Files, "Breckenridge authorities said a Texas Christian University student who suffered burns when his peers branded his buttocks participated in the act willingly and no charges will be filed.

"Authorities said Thursday they made the decision not to pursue charges after reviewing statements from Amon Carter IV and a dozen TCU students. The Summit Daily News reported that Carter had Greek symbols from his fraternity and a sorority branded on his buttocks Jan. 8 during a trip to Breckenridge and needed surgery after suffering second-and third-degree burns.

"Investigators said what happened was not part of a fraternity initiation because Carter was already a group member."

Ah, kids today...