PRESTOPUNDIT -- "It's a team sport, baby!"

The editor of the Washington Times reads the recall blogs. Quotable:

Arnold Schwarzenegger may never be the governor of California, but he will be remembered as the man who first demonstrated the peril of running for office in the age of Google ..

Recruiting celebrities to endorse the celebrity candidate is so far the only visible strategy of the Schwarzenegger campaign. You might think the Terminator, who is big enough to do it, would stuff a sock in those celebrity mouths.
He could begin with Warren Buffett, who is so big he lives in two places. He gets by with a $4 million bungalow in Laguna Beach and a love nest in Omaha, and he can't understand why a supermarket clerk at Ralph's in Pasadena, a Toyota mechanic in Bakersfield or a grape picker in Sonoma County isn't just as eager as he is to pay more taxes on his houses. (On the other hand, Arianna, reeling under the burden of a $772 annual federal income tax, does understand.) Mr. Buffett is offended by Proposition 13, which limits tax increases on houses to no more than 2 percent a year. Prop 13 saved thousands of Californians from losing their homes, but Mr. Buffett can't figure out why Californians are so devoted to it. How could a two-bedroom tract house in Petaluma be that important to anyone?
Gray Davis, the man at the end of the rope in this gallows tale, can't believe his good fortune. "Lord knows we have some things in California that cost a lot," he says, "but property taxes are not one of them, and nobody is going to change this."
In his first week as a candidate, the Terminator has neatly reversed partisan roles. He has assumed the role of defender of the rich, leaving Gray Davis the honor of defending Prop 13 and the humble hearths of "the people" the Terminator was only yesterday proclaiming himself the champion of. A nice week's work.
So far, the great white hope of California Republicans has identified himself as the champion of abortion, gay rights and gun control. Now the tax man cometh. He's well on his way to a mere supporting role in his next movie: "My big fat Mexican governor."

Posted by Greg Ransom