Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger unleashed Armageddon last week. No, not the sequel to the movie where the giant asteroid threatens Earth, but rather his proposed budget, which seemed to menace California. There were two budgets, actually. One, which assumed voters would pass state ballot measures on Tuesday, would cut deeply into state services to address a $15.4-billion deficit. The other assumed the measures' defeat.

The battle over six state budget propositions on today's ballot sputtered to a close Monday with a burst of low-profile campaigning that belied the gravity of California's fiscal crisis. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose legacy will be shaped in part by the election's results, made a final pitch to voters before leaving the state ahead of the results. The governor is scheduled to join President Obama at the White House today for an announcement on auto emission rules.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger must be reading the playbook of a previous California governor in trying to recover from his thumping in last week's election. That governor was Jerry Brown, the current attorney general and early front-runner to recapture his old office next year when Schwarzenegger is termed out. In 1978, Gov. Brown was the leading opponent of Proposition 13, the revolutionary measure that sharply cut local property taxes.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday sent lawmakers his plan to trim more than $5 billion in spending by dismantling or drastically curtailing state programs that provide Californians with healthcare, higher education, welfare, parks, AIDS treatment and counseling, prisoner rehabilitation and other services. The cuts came atop other severe spending reductions in a separate $16-billion plan that the governor unveiled two weeks ago.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked lawmakers to blow up the boxes of government, and on Wednesday they obliged -- though not exactly as he envisioned. A legislative budget committee delayed action on many of Schwarzenegger's proposals for cutting waste, and instead took an ax to operations managed by the governor. They voted to get rid of entire departments and agencies under his authority.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger invoked Winston Churchill on Tuesday in trying to rally legislators to mop up the state's gushing red ink. "Like Winston Churchill said," the governor told a rare joint session of both legislative houses as lawmakers sat passively and glum, "a pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. But an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." Yeah, yeah!

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday followed up on his threat to block a high-interest loan that could be needed to keep California government running if he and state lawmakers fail to balance the budget soon. The governor revoked the state controller's authority to take out such an emergency loan, a day after saying he was willing to bring state government to a "grinding halt" should budget talks stall. A loan would cost too much, he said, and give lawmakers an excuse to procrastinate.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday backed away from his plan to raid local governments for $1.9 billion to help balance the state's books -- a proposal that has drawn heavy fire from municipal leaders and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle. "If both parties don't like to borrow from local government, then of course we won't borrow from local government," Schwarzenegger said, answering an audience question after a budget speech in Escondido.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, seeking to conquer what could be the last budget crisis of his tenure, is engaged in a high-stakes negotiating strategy with lawmakers that could force him to preside over a meltdown of state government. As legislators have scrambled to stop the state from postponing payment of its bills and issuing IOUs starting next week, the governor has vowed to veto any measure that fails to close the state's entire $24-billion deficit.

After trying for weeks to fix a state budget gone out of control, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers stood frozen in conflict Wednesday with the state at the brink of a meltdown. A day after the state Senate failed in a late-night bid to close part of a deficit now projected at $26.3 billion, California Controller John Chiang took steps to begin issuing IOUs today to tens of thousands of companies and individuals that are owed millions of dollars by the state.