Endorsements elsewhere

SO MUCH FOR California’s anti-Arnold media. From San Francisco to San Diego, editorial boards like at least half of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “reform agenda,” defined as the four ballot measures (Propositions 74 to 77) he is supporting in today’s special election. Support is even unanimous for Proposition 77. Here’s a quick scorecard. (The Times’ roundup of its own endorsements is elsewhere on this page.)

Yes on 74: San Francisco Chronicle, San Diego Union-Tribune, Orange County Register, Riverside Press-Enterprise.

Yes on 75: San Jose Mercury News, Union-Tribune, Fresno Bee, Register.

Yes on 76: Mercury News, Union-Tribune, Register, Press-Enterprise.

Schwarzenegger’s toughest customer was the Sacramento Bee, which endorsed only Proposition 77 -- the sole initiative receiving unanimous support from this seven-newspaper survey. Conversely, two papers endorsed all four of Schwarzenegger’s initiatives: the Union-Tribune and the Register.

Those two papers were also the lone voices of support for Proposition 73. Most editorial boards that didn’t endorse Proposition 73 were troubled especially by language the initiative would insert into the state Constitution defining abortion as the death of a “child conceived but not yet born.”

Drugs and electricity didn’t perk up most editorial boards; just one (the Chronicle) endorsed Proposition 79, and none gave their support to Propositions 78 or 80. For Proposition 80, all newspapers agreed that something as complex as energy policy shouldn’t be legislated via the ballot box.