California Politicians Gearing Up To Replace Schwarzenegger Two Years To State Elections

November 10, 2008 6:40 a.m. EST

Sacramento, CA (AHN) - The U.S. federal elections have just concluded last week while state elections in California are still two years away, but potential candidates to replace outgoing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are testing the political waters.

Among the early contenders identified by the Los Angeles Times are Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, former EBay chief Meg Whitman and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. Another contender, Attorney General Jerry Grown, was a former governor. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who ventured into state politics with her active campaign against Propositions 5 and 8, is viewed by political analysts as a wild card because of her post in the Senate.

A common consensus, though, is that the next governor will not be another movie star given Schwarzenegger's failure to balance the budget and his brushes with the legislature and the lack of a major contender from Hollywood.

Meanwhile, his replacement apparently is farthest from the mind of the incumbent governor as he has to focus on ways to close the widening state budget gap which is expected to reach $11.2 billion for the current fiscal year. His proposal is to hike sales tax and reduce spending, but these were old ideas rejected previously by the California legislature.