In 2004 NONE of the statewide candidates Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger of CA endorsed and allowed to use the 'Join Arnold' phrase in their campaigns and schmoozed with for the cameras won.
HERE Besides his 'girlie man' comment, he also called the people who make up the majority of the Californian population
losers. This is a man out of touch with the state he governs, and he's gotta go.
Of course then, there's the Propositions he endorsed, but let's look at that closer...
Out of 11 Propositions Ahnuldt endorsed, 6 of them were the same as the Democratic Party. Of the remaining split, Arnold did win 4, and the Dems won 1. But there's a good lesson in here for 2006. Here's the ones he won: 69 - DNA samples for Felons, 66 - Limits on 3 Strikes, 64 -Restrictions on Businesses suing businesses, and 72 mandatory health care coverage for employees. Let's look at this seriously. 66 and 69 were law and order Props. The people will always side with law and order, the Dems should of known better. 64 and 72, California is bleeding jobs right now, anything that threatens business right now is going to lose, Dems should of known better. These weren't sweeping victories for Arnold, these were just common sense.
But the Dems did win one important one, a tax on incomes over 1 million to fund Mental Health Care, which the political ads described it as 'The rich got their Bush tax cut, so their doing fine, this isn't going to hurt them'.
But there is an important underlying message here. Arnold's candidate endorsements were based primarily on his personality and star power. AND THEY LOST. Arnold's POSITIONS ON THE ISSUES is where he did well. The point. Arnold isn't governor because people like a movie star or anything superficial like that. IT IS BECAUSE OF ISSUES. Democrats need to realize that and quit brushing him off as some musclehead. Democrats can beat him on issues. He can be beat. With a properly positioned candidate, Arnold could be out, and the headlines of Election 2006 could be 'Allies of Bush go down in flames'.
Who do I add to the list of potential candidates today?
Maria Shriver.