Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa decided to end his prospective 2010 bid for governor of California with some flair, revealing his decision in a nationally televised interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. But the opt-out by the Democratic mayor of the nation's second most-populous city -- and California's largest -- raises a question: Why would anybody WANT to govern California at this especially difficult point in its history?
The state's long-booming economy was already slowing when the national recession sent it into a tailspin. This has escalated a massive state budget shortfall, which in turn has pitted the overwhelmingly Democratic state legislature against Republican Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The Governator -- as "Terminator" movie star Schwarzenegger once dubbed himself -- has discovered during his relatively short political career that it's lot easier to save the world as a cinematic action hero than it is to break legislative gridlock in Sacramento.
Schwarzenegger's job approval ratings, as measured by California's Field Research Corporation, plunged from a rosy 60 percent as recently as December 2007 to 33 percent in the firm's last measurement taken in late April.
The only positive aspects for Schwarzenegger are that the state's term-limit law bars him from seeking re-election anyway -- and he is WAY more popular than the legislature, which had a 14 percent approval score in that Field Poll.
So one of the biggest subtexts to next year's contest for governor will be the race by candidates to distance themselves from "the mess in Sacramento."
That's even true of the prospective candidates who currently hold statewide offices in the capital city but whose positions keep them relatively free of the budget quagmire. They include Democrat Jerry Brown, the state attorney general, who hopes his long and winding political road takes him back to the governor's office he occupied from 1975 to 1983, and Republican Steve Poizner, the state insurance commissioner.
Then there are other experienced politicians who are running without Sacramento ties. They include San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Republican Tom Campbell, a former U.S. House member who was the 2000 GOP challenger to Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein (who could big-foot the whole bunch were she to decide to run for governor, but is consider unlikely to do so). Villaraigosa would have joined this group had he jumped in.
Anchoring the field of "outsider" candidates is Republican Meg Whitman, the former head of the online auction site Ebay -- though she is hardly a political naif, having served as an economic adviser to 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain. Perhaps not the most rocking credential in a state where Barack Obama trounced McCain by 24 points.
Like the crowded field of candidates who sought to succeed President George W. Bush amid a myriad of national problems, the long roster of would-be Schwarzenegger successors may seem like a victory of political ambition over common sense. Good luck to the eventual winner, whoever you are, because you'll need it.
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Comments
It's hard to believe that anyone but a fool or egomaniac would pursue a job in which he or she is doomed to fail.
Posted by: billp
| June 23, 2009 12:21 AM
Doesn't really matter who the Gov. is. As long as the legislature is run by escapees from the Napa State Mental Hospital...
The idiot voters keep electing the same morons until they're termed out, and then elect new morons as replacements.
Posted by: NObama
| June 23, 2009 12:19 PM
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