californians!

We weren’t supposed to notice this election. It was supposed to slip by, in an off-year, while nobody was paying attention. Progressives and working families were expected to stay home while the business interests and ultra-conservatives mobilized their base. Just as the governor came to power in an off-year, low-turnout special election, he has called another one to push forward his failed legislative agenda. The election on November 8^th will be a referendum on the Governor himself, and a crucial test for California progressives.

There’s a hell of a lot on the line. The initiatives on the ballot itself are all body-blows to progressive hopes for the state. In addition, a slate of recent vetoes by the governor bring even more to the table. The initiatives themselves cover issues ranging from abortion rights to union political power to health care to energy management. In recent weeks, however, the governor has vetoed bills on gay marriage, raising the minimum wage and providing drivers licenses for undocumented workers.

In order to beat the Governator, we have to assemble a voter-coalition that includes all the disparate communities affected by his full-court assault.

Today, I had a nice view of what that coalition could look like. As part of a statewide tour, Arnold swept into Santa Barbara for the day, holding an invitation-only “townhall meeting” at a local garbage processing center. He was met by 250 protesters: teachers, firefighters, Democratic activists, latino community activists, feminists, students and sundry progressives. There were only about 100 people at his event.

It says a lot that in order to hold events, he has to meet in secret. Today’s event was essentially a republican rave, with the time and place only released to invited guests after they RSVP’d. Everywhere he goes, people are making noise.

Now, we have to make sure that we can translate that noise into an electoral turnout that can overcome the clockwork voting behavior of his conservative base.

If you are reading this and live in California, you should be knocking doors or making phone calls a couple of times per week. This election is of awesome importance. Giving the governor a line-item veto on the budget is scary, but hamstringing unions, the main source of energy, people-power and funding for progressive causes in our state is even scarier.

Californians! Defend your state.