California budget measures go down in flames at the polls

Via the SF Chronicle:

California voters soundly rejected a package of ballot measures Tuesday that would have reduced the state’s projected budget deficit of $21.3 billion to something slightly less overwhelming: $15.4 billion.

The defeat of the measures means that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state Legislature will have to consider deeper cuts to education, public safety, and health and human services, officials have said.

Propositions 1A through 1E – which would have changed the state’s budgeting system, ensured money to schools in future years and generated billions of dollars of revenue for the state’s general fund – fell well behind in early returns and never recovered.

The only measure that voters approved was Proposition 1F, which will freeze salaries of top state officials, including lawmakers and the governor, during tough budget years.

JammieWearingFool takes a closer look at the numbers:

The measure lost in every county in the state and at last count was defeated by 65.8%-34.2%.

The message? Even a very blue state like California doesn’t like taxes.

Perhaps the national GOP can fashion a message off of these results.

Is it any wonder Schwarzenegger was hanging out in DC with his new pal Obama instead of remaining in California?

Is that a revolution against higher taxes I smell in the air in liberal California? Hey, stranger things have happened …