Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger retained his position as the head of the state of California Tuesday with an easy win over Democrat challenger Phil Angelides. Schwarzenegger's strategy of moving to the center and being a governor of all Californians moved him dramatically from being vehemently opposed after last year's special election to being the clear choice of the people with near 60% support.

California, usually thought of on the national scene as being a "blue state" for its repeated support for Democratic presidential candidates and its long-time support for Senators Feinstein and Boxer, bucked the national trend of replacing Republicans with Democrats, in what was likely a referendum on the GOP's support for the Iraq war, at least in the case of Schwarzenegger. Democrats on the national scene retook control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 12 years. Californian Nancy Pelosi (San Francisco) will likely be the new Speaker of the House.

Schwarzenegger stated in his victory speech that he will continue his efforts to reach out towards voters who did not vote for him. It seems Schwarzenegger may have found his political life in seeking mass appeal, a skill he developed in his previous career. Unless political handlers again take control of his administration, Schwarzenegger may succeed in this plan to unite Californians behind his agenda. It seems unlikely for the governor, who is now reaching his full stride, would backtrack and pursue a plan that would delight his Republican supporters but attack powerful constituencies such as the unions and environmental supporters. Schwarzenegger also made it part of his campaign strategy to distance himself from supporting the Bush Administration. In the end it was Phil Angelides attempt to link Schwarzenegger with Bush, while Schwarzenegger focused on ballot initiatives and used coalition-building rhetoric that tipped the scale towards the governator.

In other election news important to Valley voters:

• Most US House of Representatives Valley incumbents had won or were winning their seats back. The closest Valley race at 2:10am Wednesday was incumbent Republican John Doolittle with 50.3 % of the vote and Democratic challenger Charlie Brown with 44.7%, with 85.5% of precincts reporting. Doolittle was ahead by nearly 11, 000 votes.
• The one incumbent losing his seat was Republican Richard Pombo, falling to Democrat Jerry McNerney in the 11th District.
• With 93.9% of precincts reporting on Initiatives, 1A (Transportation Fund Protection), 1B (Highway Safety), 1C (Housing Shelter Fund), 1D (School Facility Bond), 1E (Flood Disaster Bond), 83 (Sex Offender Reform), and 84 (Water Quality) were each winning. Proposition 84 is the closest of those, winning 53.8 to 46.2%, by about 450,000 votes.
• Initiatives on the losing end were 85 (Abortion Parental Notification), 86 (Cigarette tax), 87 (Energy Tax), 88 (Education Tax), 89 (Campaign Corporate Tax), and 90 (Eminent Domain). The closest of these races--not really close. 86 was losing by 300,000 votes to have majority.
• Sacramento Measures Q and R (the arena measures) failed, as Sacramento County voters told strongly to the Kings ownership group and local politicians that a new arena should be funded by the millionaire team owners, and that getting public funding for an arena in Sacramento will be an uphill battle. Q and R supporters say this loss is more a reflection on the failure to reach an agreement on specifics about an arena before election day.
• The Sacramento Metropolitan Utility District lost its bid to become the energy provider for Yolo County. The current SMUD district voted against the expansion, and Yolo county voters also were turning down SMUD's offer to replace PG&E.
• San Joaquin County experienced a number of voting problems, including late openings of some polls and computer glitches. (Is there any other kind of glitch?)
• Local transportation taxes in Madera, Tulare, and Fresno County all appeared to be headed towards approval. Kern and Merced also have local transportation proposals, as Central Valley counties seemingly all realized at the same time that if they do not tax themselves and improve their local transportation infrastructure, their tax money will be funneled through the state into Los Angeles and Bay Area traffic projects. Kern's Measure I was failing, though.
• Several Valley communities were grappling with growth. City Council races for Tracy and Redding focused on growth. Pro-Growth candidate Garamendi was losing to incumbent city mayor Ives in Tracy. Davis appeared to be approving the town's first "big box" store by allowing Target to build.