End of Days?

Well, the recall election results are finally in, and as expected, California will now be governed by a breast-groping body-builder who starred in Jingle All the Way. I don't think life in the state will change that much under Arnold's first term, as the state is in such a deep hole nobody can dig us out in three years. Besides, it's not like we have an independent ecomony- California's budget and unemployment woes will be cured when the rest of the nation's economy recovers. But there will be two major effects of this recall that I'm worried about:

1) The impact on next year's Presidential election. With California under Republican control, Bush will have a better chance of taking the state's electoral votes.

2) This recall sets a horrible precedent. The idea that an interest group can say "gee, last November's fair and legal election didn't turn out in our favor because we ran a lousy candidate. Let's have a do-over" is pretty dangerous. If people don't respect regular election results, everything becomes succeptable to second-guessing. I almost hope that Arnold does a bad job just so that people can learn a lesson.