This is the lesson of Arnold Schwarzenegger

[ritaxis]

The reason Arnold Schwarzenegger won is that he rolled out the full-on bribes: some environment, some transportation, some public services, while at the same time running a smear campaign against Angelides. Schwarzenegger demonstrated that

Republicans who pretend to be Democrats can win.

Democrats had been acting like Republicans with less corruption for a long time and they were losing. When they started acting a little bit like Democrats they started winning again.

Comments

[hrj.livejournal.com]

My belief is that the reason Schwartzenegger won is because Californians, as a whole, are delighted to be dazzled by a good performer. We, probably more than Americans in general, have a hard time distinguishing "fame" from "ability", and if you present us with a famous, personable, charming performer, we line up for the koolaid. When the gov works hard at being charming and personable, Californians tumble -- it's when he lets it slip and comes off as arrogant and conceited that the glamour slips and we notice there's no there there. I say "we" in all this not to include you and me, but to acknowledge the larger collective gestalt. The full-on bribes were part of the deliberate charming act, but I think there's a larger context.

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

Right, that's all true. But the thing that hit me was that in order to put the charming act over, he had to charm with what looked like major concessions and he had to keep as far away from the border wall as possible. That's interesting to me. A few months ago he looked like he was going to lose, and then presto! he's an environmentalist!