Last year at this time he had been written off as politically dead by California's political and media pundits. This year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has reinvented himself. Not only is he full of life, he also has made peace with the Democratically controlled legislature, thus, hemming in his gubernatorial opponent. He is on his way to a double-digit re-election victory on Nov. 8.Last October he was in the last phases of stumping for four pet measures in a special election he had called at a cost of millions to the state's unhealthy treasury. Voters in increasing numbers had been telling pollsters they were angry that Gov. Schwarzenegger had insisted on a special election when the measures could have been added to the June 2006 primary ballot at no cost.
All year Gov. Schwarzenegger had been suffering from a case of Tin Ear Disease and ignored the voters' complaints. During the course of the year he got a great deal of advice and accepted some of the worst of it. He stiffed the legislature, believing he could "take his case to the people" over the legislators' heads as he had done in his first year. Alas, his vaunted early approval ratings, above 60%, moved steadily downward into 20s by the day of the special election. All of his measures took a beating.