GOP Flying in Reinforcements

The Republican party announced Friday that they are flying in a team of professional signature gatherers from California to help out their budget veto campaign. In California, the huge number of referendum issues has made signature gathering big business and there are many companies that specialize in the practice. This will definitely be a boost to the effort to get enough signatures by July but it places the veto campaign squarely in the realm of a politicians' maneuver rather than a movement of the people.

Still no specific plan on what the GOP wants to do with the budget hole if their referendum passes. One idea they have floated recently is a 5% across-the-board reduction in state government

So will we have a partisan fight over part 2 of the budget and then over bonds and then the uncertainty of a referendum campaign, a lowered bond rating and state finances in disarray with partisan bickering increasing as the 2006 gubernatorial race draws closer, or will the parties and politicians come together much like this recent editorial suggests? The next few days and weeks should be decisive.

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