California after Arnold

Sound Bite

This book is a "must-read" for political activists, academics, journalists and political junkies of all sorts. It shows where the Golden State has been in the past two generations, where it is now and where it is going. The book describes the Schwarzenegger Administration in the context of broad political, demographic, economic and historical forces going back to the 1911 structural political reforms of Hiram Johnson, and it illustrates how Democrats and Republicans have won past elections in California, the strategies they have used, and why. In addition, over 100 charts unwind a tangle of details and line them up by region, ethnicity, income, party affiliation, and voter turnout over time, including results on initiatives regarding everything from water rights to hand guns.

About the Book

As Arnold Schwarzenegger begins to end his internationally famous and historic governorship, the intense jockeying to replace him has started. National figures like Dianne Feinstein, Jerry Brown, Gavin Newsome and Antonio Villaraigosa are among the contenders. California after Arnold provides historic perspective for the Schwarzenegger Administration, looks at the current state of California politics and society, and offers some projections for the future of the Golden State.Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, given his outsized career as a bodybuilder and movie star, Schwarzenegger has produced a very mixed record as Governor: while he utterly failed to terminate what he called crazy deficit spending, he has achieved far-reaching reforms in the areas of legislative redistricting, the environment and labor laws.As the most populous state in the union and the eighth largest economy in the world, California politics continues to influence events well beyond its borders. For example, the electoral votes of the Golden State elected two presidents in the 20th Century: Woodrow Wilson in 1916 and Richard Nixon in 1968. California governors invariably find themselves on prospective presidential candidates lists and indeed, the state has produced a plethora of national candidates: Hiram Johnson, Herbert Hoover, Earl Warren, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Jerry Brown and Pete Wilson, plus Schwarzenegger, who surely would have run had he been eligible.Much has been written, and will surely be written, on California politics, but no other work will contain such a comprehensive collection of demographic and politics data, relying on actual election returns, Census data and exit polls, including 100+ tables that break out demographic and voter details for all to see.The book illustrates how Democrats and Republicans have won, the different strategies they have used and why. The book looks at the prospective candidates in 2010 and also at the long-term prospects of both parties and various ethnic and interest groups.