CalPolitics
So Cruz is a racist, Arnold once bragged about having group sex, and Gray is...well, Gray. It's great to see how the media is focusing on the important stuff instead of wasting their time on irrelevant matters such as investigating the candidates' solutions to the state's budget crisis. Perhaps it's best to completely pass over the question of how some dignity ever gets restored to California governance.

Bustamante's worst sin, as far as I can tell, is his utter mediocrity. Could the Democrats have two more dispiriting candidates than Cruz and Gray? That may be what makes Arnold attractive to lots of undecided voters. But it seems to me he suffers from the same problem that his Democratic opponents do - he doesn't really seem to stand for anything other than getting elected. It's possible he has some very definite positions, but we have no idea what they might be. And his handlers are working very hard at keeping him under wraps. This might be his best possible strategy. Current and former Texans of a certain age (like me) probably still remember how Clayton Williams lost a huge lead in the Texas Governor's race in 1990 by repeatedly sticking his foot in his mouth.

But comparisons to George W. Bush are probably are little more apt. Like GWB, we have a well-known candidate who's never held public office. He's backed by the best-connected insiders of his party, many of whom have extensive experience in politics. In particular, the folks advising Schwartzenegger are the same ones who were part of Pete Wilson's (the last Republican Governer of CA) administration. Like GWB, there have been charges that AS is simply a frontman for the decision-makers behind the scenes.

A big difference is that the Governor's duties in Texas are largely ceremonial. The Lieutenant Governor is responsible for the day-to-day business of the state. This is not the case in California, where the Governor has far more power and responsibility. GWB was very effective in advancing his agenda during his time as Governor, but it was Bob Bullock and then Rick Perry who ran the day-to-day show as Lt. Gov.

Schwarzenegger's claim is that specifics of his positions on the issues are not that important; bringing leadership to Sacramento is what's needed. This isn't really a bad argument; tough decisions need to be made by someone who's willing to stand up, carry them forward, and get the majority of state's lawmakers on board. But at this point, we have very little to help judge if Schwarzenegger is capable of providing that kind of leadership. A good start would be to demonstrate that's he's done his homework, and that he has some well-thought-out ideas and positions. Despite some test marketing to the far right, he's still largely a cipher, and his candidacy still looks to me more like a vanity project for his ego than a commitment to effectively governing California.

Update: I wrote this on Saturday and posted it without publishing (or so I thought). The reason I didn't publish it was because I thought it was poorly written and not very well informed - based on my emotional judgements of the candidates which have been formed without sufficiently educating myself. So this is a slight rewrite of the original post. It's a little better, but not much.