Bush's new California connection

Ever since President Bush took office, California and the White House have been famously at odds.

From environmental regulation to energy companies' profits to medical marijuana, the conservative administration in Washington has rarely seen eye to eye with the liberal behemoth on the West Coast. Communication between Bush and soon-to-be ex-Gov. Gray Davis has been minimal.

Now, as Arnold Schwarzenegger prepares to seize the reins in Sacramento, a new and complex dynamic is taking hold. Bush and Gov.-elect Schwarzenegger, both Republicans, though from different wings of the party, will certainly take each other's phone calls. But it remains debatable just how much the president can or will do to help his new ally solve California's deep-seated fiscal problems, including an $8 billion deficit.

On Thursday, the two meet in Riverside, Calif., their first meeting since the actor's victory last week. The get-together may be little more than a photo op, but it highlights one of the president's more important political relationships of what may be a tough 2004 reelection battle.

"Bush wants to bask in Arnold's glow, and Arnold wants to pick the president's pocket," says a top Republican Senate aide in Washington.

For Bush, there's no doubt that Schwarzenegger's political ascent enhances the Republican Party's image as a "big tent" enterprise - willing to embrace, at least tacitly, the moderate wing of the GOP that supports abortion and gay rights. If Schwarzenegger is still politically popular a year from now, and California is "in play" as a presidential battleground, Bush could get a small but significant boost from the new governor.

For Schwarzenegger, analysts say, any dream of becoming the Collectinator - receiving large federal reimbursements for illegal immigrants, health care, or homeland security - is likely to go unfulfilled. On the stump, the actor promised he'd try to recover more than $50 billion from Washington, arguing that California pays more into the federal coffers than it receives in return. He vowed to seek Washington's help in slowing illegal immigration and in getting Washington to buy back offshore oil leases.

But even if Schwarzenegger's high-profile efforts don't bear major fruit, there are many subtler ways Washington can help California, such as waivers on federal mandates, like Medicaid, and on regulations.

There's little Washington can do to help California's bond rating - now just a notch above junk status, the lowest level of all 50 states - but it can aid in keeping military bases open and attracting federal programs that might go elsewhere.

The applause for Schwarzenegger had barely subsided last week when he announced he would ask Washington for "a lot of favors" - but not a federal bailout, aides later clarified. The Bush administration, grappling with its own massive budget deficit, asserts that Washington has already pitched in to help the struggling states, including $20 billion in aid that Congress passed in May as part of a jobs and growth package.

Aside from Washington's empty coffers, Bush's belief in federalism - the idea that states should exercise strong autonomy in handling their own affairs - adds ideological heft to his resistance to help further.

Still, the bottom line for governors and presidents, say California political observers, is that every little bit of goodwill helps. "It's much better to have a friend in the White House than an enemy," says Tim Hodson, a political scientist at California State University, Sacramento.

He notes that President Clinton helped secure an emergency loan for Los Angeles County when it was in a financial crisis. After the Northridge earthquake of 1994, Clinton fast-tracked relief money for California. In his last days in office in 2001, Clinton also ordered out-of-state natural gas suppliers to sell extra electricity to Pacific Gas and Electric so that California could avoid further blackouts.

The emergence of homeland security as a major funding item has only added to states' urgency. "If you look at a wish list, we definitely need more money for port security," says Jack Kyser, chief economist of the Los Angeles Economic Development council, noting that California has three major ports.

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