Schwarzenegger behind as Democrats win two governorships

Nov 9, 2005, 8:41 GMT

San Francisco - Voters in California gave Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger low marks Tuesday in votes on ballot initiatives widely seen as a referendum on his first two years in office.

Schwarzenegger had convened Tuesday's special election to press for the four proposals that he argued were needed to reform the financially troubled state. But with more than 75 per cent of the votes counted, Schwarzenegger, a member of the centre-right Republican Party, was behind on all four measures.

The Austrian-born former action-movie star, who became governor after a 2003 recall election that ousted his predecessor, had asked Californians to give him more budget power, redraw the boundaries of California's electoral districts, make it tougher for teachers in state schools to acquire tenure and limit political fund-raising by unions.

Earlier polls projected that he would lose on all four proposals.

Meanwhile, in two governors races widely seen as indicators of the national political mood, Democrats won handily. In Virginia, Lieutenant Governor Tim Kaine defeated state Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, the Republican candidate. They were racing to succeed popular Democratic Governor Mark Warner.

U.S. Senator Jon Corzine, a Democrat and Wall Street tycoon, won the vacant governorship of New Jersey over Republican Doug Forrester.

The defeats came as U.S. President George W. Bush's approval rating has plunged to under 40 per cent amid the troubled war in Iraq, the response to Hurricane Katrina and the recent indictment of a top White House aide.

His unpopularity led fellow Republicans to increasingly keep their distance, and in Virginia, for example, Kilgore avoided campaigning with Bush until the day before the election.

In New York City, billionaire Republican Michael Bloomberg easily won re-election as mayor, ensuring he will remain in office for another four years. The media tycoon, who spent 66 million dollars of his own fortune on the campaign, defeated Democrat Fernando Ferrer, who had sought to become the city's first Latino mayor.

In Washington state, early returns showed a strong lead for a measure that would ban smoking in all indoor public areas.