In the final sprint to Tuesday's election, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has warned day after day of teacher layoffs, fire-station shutdowns and other dire consequences if voters fail to pass budget measures that would produce almost $6 billion to ease California's fiscal crisis.
Yet Schwarzenegger and his allies have abandoned TV advertising -- the main vehicle for reaching voters statewide -- on the three measures that would generate that money: Propositions 1C, 1D and 1E.
Instead, they are running TV ads solely for Propositions 1A and 1B, measures that would do nothing to slow California's slide toward insolvency this summer, but in future years could help the budget's bottom line and Schwarzenegger's political image.
The contradiction reflects the muddled approach of a campaign that has struggled to find a coherent argument to fit the surly mood of state voters.
Led by the Republican governor and Democratic leaders of the Legislature, the campaign for six budget measures has lurched from one strategy to another, even as tens of thousands of voters were already mailing in their ballots.
At the same time, the campaign has cast about for credible representatives to market the measures, no small task when polls show that most Californians give the governor and Legislature abysmal ratings on the budget crisis.
With soaring unemployment, plummeting home values, vanishing retirement savings and a state still billions short of a balanced budget even with new tax hikes, voter wariness is no surprise.
"When you get a combination of they don't trust the messengers, and they don't trust the message," said Democratic strategist Bill Carrick, "we know what happens."
From the start, the budget package, Propositions 1A through 1F, has faced an uphill fight. With the glaring exception of 1F, which would deny pay raises to elected officials when the state is running a deficit, voters are leaning toward rejection of the measures, polls show.
The Sacramento leaders opened their campaign by trying to play off voter anger directed at them. The first TV spot featured a man on his front porch saying politicians "got us in quite a mess." By passing all six ballot measures, the man told viewers, Californians could "hold the politicians accountable and help hold the line on higher taxes."
