Total recall

As if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger didn't have enough troubles with the state's $17.2 billion budget mess, now comes word that there may be a move afoot to recall him. Matier and Ross in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Well-placed Sacramento sources tell us the state's politically powerful and well-financed prison guards union has lawyers drawing up language for a recall initiative.
Word is, the union will decide within the next couple of weeks whether to hit the streets with petitions.
Recalling Schwarzenegger - who himself rode into office with the 2003 recall of then-Gov. Gray Davis - is probably a long shot at best.
Still, Schwarzenegger has angered fellow Republicans with his call for a three-year, 1-cent sales-tax hike to help balance the 2008-09 budget, now more than two months overdue.
His popularity among voters overall is down in the 30 percent range - that's the neighborhood where President Bush's numbers are living among voters nationally - and it stands to drop even more the longer the budget mess drags on.
The guards union, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, has been battling the governor over the group's contract for years. It has more than enough money to finance a statewide petition drive if it wants to pull the trigger.
Asked about the recall rumor, union spokesman Lance Corcoran said, "I can't comment other than to say we are taking a very hard look at it."
Schwarzenegger's office was quick to respond, saying that although the guards are mad about not getting their raises, "the governor will not be intimidated by scare tactics and will always do what is best for Californians."