Schwarzenegger for Governor, 2006

I'm convinced. On Meet the Press this morning, he was self-effacing about his mistakes, politically smart about his critics and strong in his vision for building California, which I doubt we'll see from anyone in the state's broken Democratic Party (the party's gubernatorial candidates, Phil Angelides and Steve Westly, are both political hacks). California is in dire need of deep investment in infrastructure like transportation and education, and Schwarzenegger's $222 billion plan is a great start. That's how California's economy took off -- through deep investment into the University of California system and its thousands of miles of highway during the 1960s. The state is now facing double-digit-percent population growth, which means huge increases in K-12 and university enrollment (and the state already lacks capacity in all of primary, secondary and post-secondary education) and more sprawling development around all four of the state's major population centers.

If California wants to stay on top, which it righfully should (best state in the union!), it needs a strong bipartisan leader who can rise above Sacramento's toxic partisanship. Arnold has during two of his three years as governor, and it sounds like he has learned his lessons from 2005 and is rearing to do more during another four years at the helm. If I were a California resident, I'd vote for him.