A reader named Joel takes issue with my analysis of our piece-of-shit Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s growing electoral vulnerability:

still a long way off to next elections. but maria shriver (a kennedy democrat) is gonna swing a chunk off the democrat votes for an Ahnuuuld republican win. you watch.

No.

I’m often reminded that responding to reader comments like this tends to discourage other readers from commenting, but let’s face it: our reader-to-comment comment-to-reader ratio might be the lowest in blog history anyway.

Maria Shriver is certainly a Democrat, and a Kennedy Democrat at that. But in California, she is Arnold’s wifey, and holds no sway with Democratic voters who have abandoned him in a stampede. If he needs her help to win an election, he’s done.

And that’s my prediction. Not only will he not win the election in 2006, he won’t even run. The problems with the California budget that he has exacerbated with additional borrowing and a stubborn refusal to back sensible tax increases like repealing Proposition 13 are going to endure, as will Arnold’s slide in the polls.

His legend and whatever is left of his grunt-and-shoot film career would be fatally wounded by a failed campaign. He’ll bow out early next year citing his leadership in “putting California back on the road to prosperity” and that it is time for him to spend more time with Cheekbones McCryptkeeper and the junior action heros.