State Bailout Passes Easily; Kerry Finishes Off Edwards

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger won a resounding vote of confidence Tuesday as Californians overwhelmingly passed two ballot measures that are cornerstones of his plan for recovery from the state fiscal crisis.

As Schwarzenegger declared victory on the two measures, Propositions 57 and 58, Republican primary voters elected former Secretary of State Bill Jones as their nominee for the party’s eight-month battle to unseat U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer. The Marin County Democrat is seeking a third term.

Proposition 56, a proposal by labor unions to change the rules for budget votes in the Legislature, lost handily. The vote on Proposition 55, a school bond measure, was too close to call. And in California’s Democratic presidential primary, Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts was winning in the predicted landslide over Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.

The election was California’s first since the state eliminated the type of punch-card ballot machines at the center of the 2000 presidential election fiasco in Florida. The switch to new electronic ballot systems in some areas caused widespread problems in the vote Tuesday, particularly in San Diego and Orange counties. Some voters were unable to cast ballots in San Diego County.

The absence of a tight presidential primary in California had left Schwarzenegger’s ballot measures -- and their implications for his future -- the main event in the election.

“I love it when the people go to the polls and flex their muscles and let their voices be heard,” Schwarzenegger told a crowd of hundreds who were celebrating his victory at the Fairmont Hotel in Santa Monica.

Swept into office five months ago in the recall, the GOP governor assembled a broad coalition of Democrats, Republicans and disparate interest groups to back Propositions 57 and 58. Republicans saw the measures as better than raising taxes; Democrats hoped their passage would avert what the governor called “Armageddon” budget cuts.

Schwarzenegger said voters Tuesday gave Sacramento a clear mandate to pursue bipartisan solutions to the state’s problems.

“If we work together, we will have their support,” he said.

For the governor, approval of the measures enhances his already strong standing with the Legislature. He has threatened to call for a popular vote on matters where lawmakers thwart his will; rejection of the measures could have diminished the potency of that tactic.

Former Gov. Pete Wilson, a fellow Republican and political mentor to Schwarzenegger, called approval of the measures a “great personal victory” for the governor, given early polls showing support for them from barely a third of California voters.

“By his barnstorming, by traveling the state and making a relentless and energetic case for passage, making the arguments and explaining what was at stake in terms people can understand, he’s persuaded people to change their minds and pass both of them,” Wilson said at the Santa Monica hotel.

Approval of the propositions also carries practical significance for a governor who could seek reelection in 2006.

“The important thing here is he’s not thrown into a situation where he has to call for a large tax increase or draconian budget cuts right away,” said Bill Carrick, a Democratic strategist. “It gives him a little more breathing room to try to get things straightened out.”

Proposition 57 authorizes the state to borrow up to $15 billion to balance the budget. Most of that would refinance previously approved debt under court challenge, but roughly $4 billion is to close new budget gaps, according to the nonpartisan legislative analyst’s office.

Proposition 58, often described by Schwarzenegger as a device to shred the credit card of politicians unable to control spending, restricts future borrowing to cover deficits. It also requires balanced budgets and a rainy-day reserve. Critics say it is riddled with loopholes.

Schwarzenegger pressed his case for both measures in millions of dollars of television ads that went unanswered by critics, who declined to wage any serious paid effort against the Hollywood-superstar-turned-governor.

Democratic state Treasurer Phil Angelides and state Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), the only opponents of note, made faint stabs at the governor’s proposals. But they did not advertise on radio or television.

Proposition 56, in contrast, was fiercely contested over the airwaves -- and was defeated. With the jobs of teachers, nurses and other union members at stake in extremely lean budgets, the measure was part of labor’s effort to protect them from cuts. By lowering the vote required to pass a budget from two-thirds to 55%, it would have stopped the Legislature’s GOP minority from continuing to block tax hikes.

To enhance the measure’s appeal, sponsors included a provision -- emphasized in their heavy TV advertising -- that would have docked lawmakers’ pay for missing the deadline for passing a budget.

But businesses threatened with tax hikes -- among them oil, insurance and liquor companies -- poured millions of dollars into television ads of their own. Warnings in those ads about the threatened tax increases evidently struck a nerve with voters.

California Chamber of Commerce President Allan Zaremberg hailed the measure’s defeat.

“Despite the deceptive tactics used by the measure’s proponents, voters clearly saw this measure for what it is: a ploy to raise taxes,” he said.

Although Schwarzenegger did not mount a full-blown campaign against the measure, he did speak out against it.

Proposition 55, another heavily advertised measure with no visible opposition, traded on the governor’s popularity by prominently noting his support in its ads. The measure would authorize $12.3 billion in bonds to build and repair schools. The bulk, $10 billion, would be for schools with students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Public colleges and universities would get the rest.

Schwarzenegger’s hand was also evident in the U.S. Senate race, given his endorsement of Jones, who triumphed over nine rivals, including former U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin, former Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian and former Los Altos Hills Mayor Toni Casey.

Jones stopped Tuesday night at Schwarzenegger’s victory party in Santa Monica before heading to his own in Newport Beach.

“His coattails are going to be very important for the president and myself,” Jones said.

For Jones, 54, the victory marked a comeback from his distant third-place finish in the 2002 Republican primary for governor.

A Fresno farmer and cattle rancher, Jones heads Pacific Ethanol, a maker of the fuel additive produced from corn. He served 12 years in the Assembly and eight years as secretary of state, a job that put him in charge of administering California elections. Forced from office by term limits in 2002, he went to work as a consultant for a touch-screen voting machine firm, though he has severed those ties.

In preparation for the race against Boxer, Jones launched efforts during the primary to expand his appeal beyond his conservative Republican base. Campaigning on the Central Coast last weekend, he spoke out against offshore oil drilling.

“Barbara Boxer is clearly going to have a difficult time pushing me to one side and saying this is just another extremist Republican,” Jones told supporters Tuesday night at a Newport Beach hotel. “I say to Sen. Boxer, ‘Just come and try to make an extremist out of me.’ ”

Before the polls had even closed Tuesday, Boxer began to do just that. Attacking Jones’ conservative record, she described him as “out of touch” with California voters.

In an interview, she said Jones voted “not once, but 10 times, to drill off our coast” in the Legislature. Her foe, backed in previous races by the National Rifle Assn., also “voted against child safety locks,” Boxer said, noting her own support for an assault weapons ban.

Later, addressing supporters gathered Tuesday night at the Wilshire Grand Hotel in Los Angeles, Boxer returned to those themes in a speech by phone from Washington. She had been delayed there by Senate votes.

“When you stand up against special interests and the far right, they’re going to come after you, and we’re ready for them,” she said.

Marin, the second-place contender in the GOP primary, sounded upbeat as early returns showed her performing stronger than polls had suggested. The immigrant from Mexico who also served as Huntington Park mayor said she had succeeded in opening up the party to diversity.”This is a victory any way you look at it,” she said. “We were moving a mountain. We didn’t get it off the cliff, but we moved it.” She could have won, she said, if the state GOP establishment hadn’t rallied behind Jones.

Times staff writers Richard Marosi, Joe Mathews, Peter Nicholas, Jean O. Pasco and Julie Tamaki contributed to this report.