Political Quote of the Day

From Maria Shriver to Arnold Schwarzenneger:

"Hasta la vista, baby daddy."

(Note: I just made that up.)

The Impreginator

I didn't even mention the news last week that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver had separated because members of the Kennedy family getting divorced is not exactly news.  However, I think everyone expected there was a backstory to the end of a 25-year marriage...and there was:

Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, separated after she learned he had fathered a child more than a decade ago — before his first run for office — with a longtime member of their household staff.

Shriver moved out of the family's Brentwood mansion earlier this year, after Schwarzenegger acknowledged the paternity. The staff member worked for the family for 20 years, retiring in January.

"After leaving the governor's office I told my wife about this event, which occurred over a decade ago," Schwarzenegger said Monday night in a statement issued to The Times in response to questions. "I understand and deserve the feelings of anger and disappointment among my friends and family. There are no excuses and I take full responsibility for the hurt I have caused. I have apologized to Maria, my children and my family. I am truly sorry.

Needless to say, had this news come out during his first campaign (during the Gray Davis recall) he never would have won. The LA Times tried running a smear campaign against him, but apparently they just had the wrong kind of smear.

Schwarzenegger's Last Shame

The Governator, who I had such high hopes for when he knocked Gray Davis out of office, turned out to be a terrible disappointment and tonight he is leaving office with a shameful act:

In his final night before leaving office, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger commuted the prison sentence of the son of former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez who had pleaded guilty to taking part in the slaying of a college student.

Schwarzenegger announced the move in a batch of eleventh-hour press releases e-mailed to reporters…

…Fabian Nuñez, a Democrat, grew close to the governor while speaker. The two worked together to pass the state’s landmark global warming law, which was a signature achievement of Schwarzenegger’s time in office. Fabian Nuñez is a business partner of the governor’s chief political advisor at the consulting firm Mercury Public Affairs.

“We are totally outraged,” said Fred Santos, the father of Luis Santos. “For the governor to wait until the last day in hopes it would fly under the radar is an absolute injustice.”

Santos, a software engineer in Concord in Northern California, said Esteban Nuñez “had already gotten lucky once” when prosecutors accepted a plea bargain that allowed him to avoid standing trial on murder charges, which could have led to a life sentence.

He said the family was not warned about the impending commutation and learned about it Sunday from reporters.

Thanks to Schwarzenegger we have AB32, the global warming bill that will increase costs on everything Californians do and will drive more business out of the state. We also can thank him for pushing the "reforms" in the legislature which will make it easier for the new governor to raise taxes and fees.

Hasta la vista...dummy.

Governator Calls Special Session, Dems Laugh

The Governator is planning to go out swinging, but it won't make much difference:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a fiscal emergency and is asking lawmakers to meet in a special session to save the state $9.9 billion over the next two years.

Schwarzenegger on Monday unveiled a plan that relies largely on cuts to health care and social services for the poor.

The Dems aren't going to help him make cuts because they've got Gov. Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown coming into office on January 3. Thanks to having crazies in control of our entire state government, and the voters stupidly approving ballot measures that will make it easier to raise taxes, the Dems will simply wait Arnold out and then let Brown raise taxes on everything that moves.

Matt Lauer Suffers a Case of the Stupids

Yesterday the California governor and the two governor-wannbes met at a Women's Conference in Long Beach for a panel discussion moderated by lefty loon and NBC Today Show host Matt Lauer.  Matt had a touch of the stupids and decided to "create a moment" designed to appeal to the ladies by asking both candidates to stop negative ads:

It's been a crazy campaign season, not just in California but across the nation, and negative advertising seems to be the reigning theme for most candidates.

Confronted with a pitch to "give Californians a break" by pulling negative television ads, Calif. Attorney General Jerry Brown was "all for it." His opponent, political newcomer Meg Whitman: not so much.

The proposal came up during an interview with Today Show host Matt Lauer, whose idea drew a wave of applause from an audience. Brown appeared a bit hesitant, saying that negative advertising is really in the eye of the beholder, but he eventually came around.

"Let's be clear, if she takes her negative ads down ... I'll take mine off, no question," he said. "We'll do it together."

Whitman balked at the idea, sending a wave of audible displeasure throughout the room. She said that Californians "need to understand" her allegations against Brown.

"I think it's important because I am new to politics," she explained. "People need to know where I stand and also, Jerry Brown has been in politics for 40 years and there's a long track record there and I want to make sure people really understand what's going on here. And I'm not doing it in a mean- spirited way. I just think it's important for people to really understand what the track record was in Oakland, what the track record was as governor."

Of course, Meg's answer caused the crowd to suffer a bad case of the vapors.

Neither candidate answered this plea from Lauer correctly. They should have told him to grow some cajones and recognize that politics is a contact sport and the reason people run negative ads is because they're proven to be effective in shaping perceptions about candidates.  Politics is not all about rainbows and unicorns despite what he might have been led to believe in 2008.

Lauer should have worn a dress.

Twitter user Blurt2u put it this way:

Matt Lauer is a perfect example of how the media thinks they are in charge of pretty much everything.

Arnold Schwarzenegger Finishes Off Charlie Crist

A California governor with an state in disarray and approval numbers in the low 20's endorses a Florida governor and senator-wannabe, thus effectively finishing off Charlie Crist's independent campaign:

Sorry if this offends anyone, but in what amounts to a bi-coastal tragic-comedy, failed progressive governor, Charlie Crist, has been endorsed by failed progressive governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, doubtless influencing at least two people in Tallahassee's vote. Tweeting from California, the Windmill State, Schwarzenegger said:

I endorse Governor Charlie Crist for Senate. Great leader, works with both parties, and our country needs someone like him in D.C. right now. [...]

Inspiring, huh? Only a rudderless man like Schwarzenegger can look at a peer (Crist) for whom political expediency determines "principle" and label him a "great leader."

Does anyone but Schwarzenegger and Crist think an endorsement from a guy who went from charismatic conservative leader to spineless, flailing failure is going to inspire Floridians to vote for Charlie "I'm a Lovely Shade of Orange" Crist?

Maybe we can get Schwarzenegger to endorse a few other people, like Lisa Murkowski, Harry Reid, Patty Murray, Richard Blumenthal, Bawney Fwank and Chris Coons.  They're all as qualified as Charlie Crist, using Schwarzenegger's standards.

And to add to Crist's woes, he's getting an endorsement from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the radical econut global warming alarmist.  Maybe Kennedy can promise Florida that the whole peninsula will be under water if they don't elect Crist.

Don't Forget, Allred Tried to Get Schwarzenegger in 2003 Too

Gloria Allred is a professional muckraker for the Democrats. She's trying to mess up Meg Whitman's campaign right now, and in 2003 tried to do the same with Arnold Schwarzenegger. She's a sideshow freak and the human debris she trots out as her "victims" are her hand puppets.

Check out The Daily Caller's piece on the latest PR stunt by Allred.

Two Bad California Governors Want Gay Marriage to Start Again

No surprise here:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown filed a legal memorandum today calling for the resumption of same-sex weddings.

They should go first. I'm sure they'd make a lovely couple.

Whitman Crushing Poizner, Leading Moonbeam

The Field Poll has released numbers for the California governor's race and things are looking good for former eBay CEO Meg Whitman. In the GOP primary match-up Whitman leads Steve Poizner 63% - 14%, due no doubt to Whitman's nearly constant TV ads. I'm thinking Poizner probably should start seriously considering withdrawal from the race rather than waste any more money and effort.

In the race against former Gov. Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown, the likely Dem candidate, Whitman leads 46% to 43%.

The knock on Whitman is she could be another Arnold Schwarzenegger in terms of political disposition, much more moderate than conservative, but the only hope we have of keeping California completely out of the toilet is keeping the Democrats out of the governor's mansion. If we get a liberal Dem governor combined with a liberal legislature, the State's finished.

Global Warming Quote of the Day

From The Governator, speaking at the Global Climate Summit in Copenhagen:

“The desire and hope and desperate need for planetary transformation is what brought me here. Is it a dream, a fairly tale, a false hope? If not how can we make it real?”

I'll go for a planetary transformation if we can become a comet. Comets are cool, though if you think the climate's a problem now, just wait until we're an icy dust ball flying around the cosmos.

However, if the folks in Copenhagen have anything to do with it we'll just be a black hole swallowing up the rest of the galaxy.

Governator Releases Global Warming Scare Report

I think you could call this bad timing:

In 2100, San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf would become Fisherman's Bay, the baseball diamond at AT&T Park would flood and two major Bay Area airports would better serve seaplanes under a climate change model unveiled Wednesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Google.

The governor released a new report determining that global warming, left unabated, will lead to higher sea levels, greater wildfire risks and decreased water supply over the next century, based on research compiled by the California Energy Commission.

Schwarzenegger also convened a panel of 23 experts from various sectors to review the 200-page report and draft final policy recommendations for the governor and Legislature by July.

The governor and legislative Democrats in 2006 approved a new law requiring California to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent by 2020. But the governor said Wednesday, "We must also be prepared if climate change continues to worsen. Scientists tell us that temperatures could rise an additional 7 degrees during this century."

Dear Governator: Please click on the "ClimateGate" label below. And then tear up that stupid report.

The Governator Must Want a Job in the Obama Administration

He's already taken care of the requirement that he fail to pay taxes:

The Internal Revenue Service has filed a federal tax lien against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for nearly $80,000, public records show.

The lien was filed May 11 at the Los Angeles County recorder's office for $79,064, according to a record in an electronic database that includes lien filings. The record does not indicate what property the lien was placed on, but it lists the debtor as Arnold Schwarzenegger with the governor's home address in Brentwood.

Give him a cabinet position - he'll fit right in.

The Governator Has a Message for the Assembly

This was either a wild coincidence or a very creative way to slap down the opposition:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) is raising eyebrows in California for issuing a veto message that spells out "f*** you" in the left-hand margin of the page.

The former action star's f*** you message came when he rejected Assembly Bill 1176, legislation which would have expanded the financing powers of the Port of San Francisco.

The bill was unobjectionable to legislators of both parties: it sailed through the Assembly and state Senate on unanimous votes.

It was vetoed, however, by Schwarzenegger who said in his message that he considers it "unnecessary" to sign the bill at this time because another year has gone by without the legislature tackling big issues such as water reform, prison reform, and health care.

While the surface-level message is one often articulated by Schwarzenegger, if you look down the left margin of the page, the first word begins with the letter "f" and the last ends with the letter "u."

Read the veto message HERE.

The sponsor of the bill was Tom Ammiano, a Democratic member of the State Assembly who recently heckled Schwarzenegger when the governor made a surprise drop-in at a San Francisco Democratic Party fundraiser.

As previously reported by ABC-7 in San Francisco, Ammiano shouted "you lie!" to Schwarzenegger during the event at the Fairmont Hotel, before adding: "kiss my gay ass" as he walked out.

Ammiano, who said afterwards that he has no regrets, was upset with Schwarzenegger about the impact that his budget cuts have had on people in San Francisco.

Although it's hard to imagine that the double message was not intentional, Schwarzenegger's spokesman is maintaining that it was just an innocent accident.

I'll bet every veto message will be carefully scrutinized in the future.

California Democrats Launch Another Losing Strategy

This is why it's vital that Schwarzenegger be replaced next year with another Republican:

State Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said today that he will file a lawsuit against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to challenge his use of line-item vetoes last month to make nearly $500 million in spending cuts to the state budget.

Steinberg said he will file the lawsuit as an individual in San Francisco County Superior Court early next week and will tap political funds to pay for the legal challenge.

“We elected a governor, not an emperor,” Steinberg said at a Capitol news conference. “In making these line-item vetoes the governor forced punishing cuts on children, the disabled and patients that he couldn’t win fairly at the bargaining table. And in doing so, he overstepped his constitutional authority.”


The announcement was made just two days after the Legislature’s legal counsel issued an opinion arguing that Schwarzenegger exceeded his constitutional powers by imposing the cuts to health, welfare and other programs.

Democratic leaders contended that the cuts should have been off-limits to the governor's blue pencil because they had been funded under a February budget agreement. That budget fell out of balance as state revenue plummeted.

The Legislature sent the governor a budget fix July 24 that left the state in deficit, without a reserve, forcing the governor to find more cuts, said Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the governor.

"The governor’s constitutional authority to veto appropriations is unquestioned and will be upheld by the courts," McLear said.

The legislature will lose this fight. The line item veto is part of our state's constitution, and although they have a history of disapproving of things in the constitution (eg. Prop 8), they also have a history of losing these fights (again, Prop 8).

The Democrats that run the legislature are completely out of control. If we elect a Democrat governor next year there will be absolutely no checks on their power and we'll see all kinds of tax increases to fund every sort of stupid social program you can think of. I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't a concerted attack on Prop 13 that's kept California from taxing people out of their homes.

Arnold has been a disappointment, but he's a ray of sunshine compared to any Democrat we might get.

The Governator is Back, Baby!

This is the governor I remember from the 2003 campaign:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this morning ordered state workers to take a third day off without pay each month after Republican lawmakers acting with his support blocked a Democratic proposal to ease the state's deficit and allow the government to keep paying bills.

The Republican governor unveiled billions of dollars in additional proposed cuts to schools and public universities to deal with a deficit that he says is now $26.3 billion, an increase of $2 billion. He also announced an emergency special session of the Legislature that would allow lawmakers to act on them immediately.

Schwarzenegger criticized lawmakers for engaging in "endless hearings" instead of negotiating and said they had rejected his proposals to overhaul state government with so-called reforms in deference to special interests.

"They are debating about cowtails," Schwarzenegger said, in reference to a bill pending in the Legislature. "This is inexcusable."

The Schwarzenegger administration said the newly released cuts would pare state spending by an additional $4.9 billion.


The latest reductions may be necessary after Tuesday night's inaction further exacerbated the state's financial problems by leaving on the table billions of dollars in potential cuts to school programs that had to be made before the new fiscal year began at midnight.

If lawmakers and the governor do not agree on a plan to wipe out the deficit -- or at least part of it -- by the end of today, State Controller John Chiang will begin giving out IOUs in lieu of checks to pay debts owed by the state.

"We have one more day," Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said as his house prepared to convene again.

Democrats in the Legislature will also propose additional cuts today. They are targeting redevelopment agencies. Their plan would raid $1.2 billion of agency funds earmarked for affordable housing. As part of the plan, state requirements that redevelopment projects include such housing would be eased.

Aides to the lawmakers and governor said the shortfall, previously projected at $24.3 billion, increased when Republican state senators blocked a last-ditch effort Tuesday night to slice $3.3 billion, mostly from education.

Those proposed cuts, which were approved by the state Assembly last week on a bipartisan vote, were to have affected the fiscal year that ended on Tuesday. The opportunity to make the reductions expired at the stroke of midnight, after the package failed in a series of party-line votes, with one GOP senator abstaining.

Schwarzenegger had promised to veto the bills unless they were accompanied by a complete plan to balance the budget. Steinberg, saying Republican lawmakers had taken their direction from Schwarzenegger in voting it down, accused all of them of "the most irresponsible act I have seen in my 15 years of public service."

Schwarzenegger said he won't sign any legislation unrelated to the budget until a full budget agreement is reached.

Unfortunately, the legislature got used to Schwarzenegger siding with them and allowing tax increases to go through. Now that he's finally playing tough they don't believe he's serious.

Stick with it governor. Make the Democrats cut until they fix the whole problem, not just band-aid solutions that postpone the pain for another few weeks.

California Welfare Could Become a Thing of the Past

The proponents of the social safety net are worried about California's direction:

Could California become the first state in the nation to do away with welfare?

That doomsday scenario is on the table as lawmakers wrestle with a staggering $24.3 billion budget deficit.

County welfare directors are "in shock" at the very idea of getting rid of CalWORKs, which has been widely viewed as one of the most successful social programs in the state's history, said Bruce Wagstaff, director of the Department of Human Assistance in Sacramento.

"It's difficult to come up with the right adjective to react to this," Wagstaff said. "It would be devastating to the people we serve."

H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for the state Department of Finance, said California is in an unprecedented fiscal situation that has made all programs, from education to human services, vulnerable to deep and painful reductions.

"I don't wish for a moment to minimize the profound impact" that eliminating CalWORKs would have, Palmer said. "But the easy decisions are way past being in the rearview mirror for us. We face the specter of California not having cash on hand to pay its bills in July."

Wagstaff and other administrators are betting that the state will rescue the "welfare to work" program. But they are bracing for cuts that would slash benefits to the lowest levels since the late 1990s, when CalWORKs began as part of the federal government's bold reform of the welfare system.

Whether it's fair or not, or whether it's compassionate or not, big cuts have to happen for California to avoid complete financial collapse. It's hard to tell whether the governor is proposing the end to this program because he's just trying to scare voters and legislators, or if it's because this program really isn't needed. I suspect that both are true to some extent.

However, one could certainly question the governor's priorities:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he's "happy" illegal immigrants get state services and says they're not to blame for California's $24.3 billion budget gap.

Schwarzenegger, an immigrant himself, says the estimated $4 billion to $5 billion the state spends on illegal immigrants annually is a "small percentage" of the deficit.

It may be small, but it's still real money.

Republicans Take Note - This is How It's Done

In California we have a massive budget deficit and a Republican (sort of) governor with line item veto power. To my knowledge the governor has been content to sit back and let the legislature raise taxes massively while cutting education and other priorities. He has not wielded the pen in the way it was intended to end spending on stupid things.

Not so in Minnesota where Gov. Tim Pawlenty has created "pawlenty" of heartburn for the liberal Democrats (sorry, couldn't resist the pun).

'Minnesota nice" comes in two forms: the first, gracious hospitality; the second, smiling stubbornness. Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty this week delivered his spendthrift legislature a humiliating taste of the latter. You betcha.

If Republicans are looking to get back their conservative groove, they could do worse than study Minnesota's budget brawl. Mr. Pawlenty deftly (and amusingly) outmaneuvered his Democratic opposition, not only saving his state from huge tax increases but clearing the way to cut government spending. Call it a refreshing break from the financial-crisis norm.

Like most states, Minnesota has been facing a huge budget shortfall -- an estimated $4.6 billion over two years. These dire financial straits didn't deter the DFL-controlled legislature (the DFL is Minnesota's chapter of the Democratic Party), which got to work on big new spending bills. Included were not just the usual increases in appropriations but gems like $1.2 million in grants for TV and film producers and $200,000 for a youth environmental education program. Recession? What recession?

To fill in the hole they'd blown in the upcoming fiscal budget the DFL then proceeded to float every tax hike known to Garrison Keillor. A short list: A new top income tax rate of 9% (the fourth highest in the nation); across-the-board income tax increases; sales taxes on Internet downloads; the end of the local property tax cap (enacted only last year); alcohol taxes; cigarette taxes; eliminating the deduction for an organ donation (no joke); and killing the home mortgage interest deduction.

Throughout this spectacle, Mr. Pawlenty kept voicing three simple principles. "Number one, we must have [because of the constitution] and should have a balanced budget," he told me. "Number two, the state government needs to live within its means, just like everybody else. Number three, we shouldn't raise taxes in the worst recession in 60 years." Minnesota already has one of the highest tax burdens in the nation.

The DFL wasn't listening. As the clock wound down (the session ended at midnight this past Monday), the legislature sent Mr. Pawlenty one large spending bill after another. The assumption was he'd veto them, be forced to call a special session, and then be negotiated into tax hikes. That's when the governor got Minnesota nice.

Upon receiving the last spending bill, he announced that he would exercise the power of "unallotment," which has been on the books since 1939 and which has been used four times. Under it, the governor is allowed to "unallot" (take away) any state spending for which there is no money to pay. Panicked, the DFL passed tax legislation to cover its blowout spending bills, 10 minutes before the session's end. Too late. The governor said he'd veto the bill and would not be calling back the legislature to do any more mischief.

Mr. Pawlenty is now free to strip $2.7 billion from state spending to balance the budget. Tax hikes are dead. He tells me this will be one of the first times in modern Minnesota history that the state will reduce the size of government in real terms, not just slow its rate of growth. "The correlation in recent history has been between job growth and states that have reasonable government cost structures," he says. These cuts, he says, will position Minnesota to take advantage of the recovery when it comes.

A red-faced DFL is lecturing the public to be angry at the governor -- and the governor alone -- for any cuts in government services. Pawlenty critics have accused the governor of grandstanding, readying for a possible presidential run.

This is exactly what Schwarzenegger should have been doing in California, but he was so intent on "working together" he forgot that his first allegiance was to the taxpayers.

Well done, Governor Pawlenty. I'll keep this story in mind should you throw your hat in the ring in 2012.

Political Headline of the Day

From California Healthline:

"Schwarzenegger Team Mulls Elimination of Healthy Families"

Yeah, they're all moving elsewhere because the state's in the crapper.

California Ballot Proposition Results Pretty Much as Expected

Votes are just starting to be counted in California, but the very early results seem to indicate that Propositions 1A through 1E will lose handily - probably by margins of 2-1 or so. Prop 1F will win big - probably by 2-1 or maybe even 3-1.

Welcome to the angry electorate, Governor.

Statewide results can be found here.

The May 19th California Voter's Revolt

Hugh Hewitt has some thoughts on the coming trouncing of several California ballot propositions and what it might mean in next year's elections:

California voters head to the polls next week with predictions of doom echoing in their ears if they decline to endorse the massive tax hikes prescribed for them by big Democratic majorities in the statehouse, Arnold and a handful of now ruined-politically Republican legislators.

"Shrill" doesn't begin to describe the campaign designed to stampede the Golden State electorate. The latest ad has a weary, soot-covered fire-fighter urging a yes vote on the tax hike. The message is clear: Vote no and your homes will burn down.

Not even this sort of fear-mongering is moving the needle towards "yes" on the massive tax surge on next week's ballot as poll after poll shows all the key measures put forward by the tax-and-spend-and tax-again crowd failing badly.

Arnold is doing his best to summon up the old magic but his appeal long ago hit Gray Davis-levels. Arnold was elected to slash taxes and spending, and somehow he confused that mandate with orders to throw in with the public employee unions. Too bad. He could have been a contender.

The GOP "leaders" who signed on to this roadmap to ruin have been dumped by their caucuses, and go down in California history as the biggest marks to have ever had a seat at the poker game known as the "Big Five" negotiations wherein the governor and the top Republicans and Democrats in the State Assembly and Senate hash out budget matters.

Jerry Brown, Gavin Newsom and every other would be Democratic governor are watching their chances in '10 swirl down the drain as deep disgust with the tax-addicted grows.

On the GOP side, Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner --the leading candidates to replace Arnold-- are against Prop 1A, the biggest of the tax hikes, and the deep revulsion at the refusal of the Sacramento elite to make even minor cuts in the bloated state budget is forcing a realignment that east coast political reporters ought to take note of.

If the tax hikes are rejected by large margins next week, the country's political elite ought to study that result closely. Despite huge spending margins and despite a thin veneer of bipartisanship, the tax hike gang is getting thumped because the electorate is saying --no, shouting-- "Enough!"

Everyone has a story of a state or county employee friend who is retiring at 55 with a guaranteed life pension of $75,000 or more plus gold-plated medical benefits. Almost everyone knows that massive amounts of money have flowed into Los Angeles public schools and still half of the kids drop out. Majorities realize that businesses don't have to operate here, and that places like Texas may lack the Rose Parade but let you grow a business and keep most of the profits.

On social issues, the California is evenly split, as the narrow victory for traditional marriage this past fall demonstrated.

But there is a sizeable majority in favor of a radical change in the way government operates. The anger directed at Arnold and his tax-raising, free-spending pals is fueled by the genuine hardships brought about by the panic in the fall and the drop in home prices. Every business and almost all families have had to make painful cuts and downsize or postpone dreams.

But not the state government. And that has ignited the voter revolt underway that will culminate next week.

You can read the rest here. I have yet to run into anybody who plans to vote for 1A through 1E. 1F promises to deny lawmakers their pay if they don't get the budgets done on time. That one might pass.

On May 20th we'll probably hear all sorts of terrible things that will come about because of what the media will describe as a "voter tantrum". However, anybody that wants to be elected or re-elected in 2010 had better pay attention. The voters are in an ugly mood.