DANIEL WEINTRAUB WRITES:

It is sad, in a way, that the state’s public affairs are in such terrible shape that it has come to this. . . .

I understand the bitterness, but I’m disturbed by its depth. Several of the Democrats I spoke to were in strong denial about the message sent by the voters, the message being that they, and Davis, have been poor stewards of state government. They see this is an isolated event, a venting, that will quickly pass while they fight to maintain everything they have done the past five years. My gut tells me they are wrong, that there is something deeper here, a desire for fundamental change in the way the state does business and in the way politics works, or doesn’t work, in California.

I hope that the California political establishment will be smart enough to realize that this was a colossal rebuke, and will be moved to mend its ways. But if it were that smart, would things have come to this?

I suspect that national Democrats will respond to this by becoming still more bitter and shrill, that being the response that we’ve seen to other reverses lately, which won’t help things either. But maybe not.