My friend Mike Spence is exactly right: a ballot measure that addressed policy reform in the area of illegal immigration could have been of huge help to the governor’s effort. But I should clarify a point on which we may have disagreed. I wasn’t simply arguing for photo opportunities with children, but rather finding a way to reassure swing voters that Schwarzenegger’s conservative principles are laced with centrist tendencies on some issues. That may not be necessary for either Mike or myself, but it’s the difference between 44 percent and 51 percent of the vote on Election Day.
Arnold was elected because he combined a commitment on conservative principles, which appealed to many Republicans, with more moderate stances on social and environmental issues, which attracted support from independents and moderate Democrats. We all knew during the recall campaign what type of governor we’d be getting: my point is not that Schwarzenegger should abandon his core conservative beliefs on economic, public safety, and immigration policy, not in the slightest. He should not attempt to “move to the center” in order to regain lost support. He doesn’t have to move at all, but he does have to remind those swing voters that he’s the same candidate they supported two years ago.
One way of accomplishing that would have been to sponsor a ballot measure that reflected the same ideological balance that elected him. Moving forward, it simply means finding ways to remind voters that he’s not the extremist that his opponents have made him out to be. As I said earlier, a pro-choice green governor who won’t raise taxes or turn a blind eye to illegal immigration won’t ever make the Conservative Hall of Fame. But he can do much more good for the state over four years than Phil Angelides or Steve Westly.