<html><body> <DIV> A pyrrhic victory? </DIV> <DIV> Look what would have happened had the Terminator won on all four of his initiatives.  The political power of public employee unions in California would have broken, new teachers would be hired on an at-will basis and those with tenure would have much of their job security cut out from under them, and the Governor would have become a virtual dictator on budgetary matters. Had  Proposition 73 been passed, it would have amounted to a significant erosion of  reproductive rights in this states.. Had the "Yes" side won, there would have been unmitigated disaster.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Certainly, it is significant that the Labor Movement was able to take on Arnold and win. At the very least, the once supposedly invincible Terminator seems highly vulnerable. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Of Arnold's four initiatives, the WORST  that the opponents could get was 53%, not a landslide but not a cliffhanger either. While the No forces bought a lot of TV time, they also mobilized a lot of people in the big metropolitant areas to get out the vote, both through precinct walking and phonebanking.  The "Yes" relied almost exclusively TV ads and had no comparable mobilization.   We will see what the quantitative analysis shows in the days to come but it seems to me that the defeat of Arnold's initiatives can only serve to energise those who participated.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Given the stakes involved, I don't see how you can call it anything other than a victory, albeit a defensive one. SR</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">-------------- Original message -------------- <BR><BR>> http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051109/pl_nm/election_usa_california_dc <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> It looks more like a Pyrrhic victory to me. <BR>> Wojtek <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> ___________________________________ <BR>> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk </BLOCKQUOTE></body></html>