Governor in Fresno to shore up his ("dead and lifeless") base

http://fresnobee.com/local/story/11957700p-12722098c.html

By E.J. Schultz / Bee Capitol Bureau

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Schwarzenegger is scheduled to be in Fresno today, a visit that only months ago would have been enough to excite most any Republican.

But if you ask one of Fresno's leading Republicans, the governor will get a reception today that is just "extremely lukewarm."

"The problem he's got is the (Republican) base is just dead — it's dead and lifeless," said Michael Der Manouel Jr., chairman of the Lincoln Club of Fresno County, a GOP group.

Der Manouel and other fiscal conservatives are upset by the governor's attempt to put a multibillion-dollar bond measure on the ballot to pay for roads, ports, schools and other infrastructure. A deal to put the measure on June's ballot fell apart last week in part because not enough Republican lawmakers went along with the plan, which changed almost daily as negotiators attempted to reach a compromise.

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This whole "move to the center" thing was political idiocy. He'll gain no love from progressives. He sealed his fate when he campaigned for Bush and ran that oh-so-special election. The right never saw him as one of their own, and now he spits at them with a dramatic flair.

If he can't get it on there he can't get it on anywhere. Somebody stick a fork in him.

Roads, schools, and port security just magically happen, that's why they're upset. Imagine the gaucherie of actually presenting a bill for these things. No wonder the poor dears at the Lincoln Club are having the vapors.