Doug Henwood wrote:
"No, near record-low turnout. It was only a point or two above the last gubernatorial election, which had set an all-time California low. This confounded the predictions of a high turnout."
No, I'm sorry, I think you are myth-making here. California voter participation in this election was about 6% higher than in 2002. At 56% it was comparable to off-year elections since '86 which varied from about 60.5% to about 57.5% with 2002 being the outlier at 50%.
Also, please remember that Scwarzenegger would have won if the voters had been exclusively female. He did win the female vote, after all.
peace,
boddi