Relief for Schwarzenegger as California backs $15bn rescue plan

VOTERS put their trust in California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plan to salvage the state’s finances, agreeing to borrow billions of dollars in a win that rewrote the state’s political history.

Tasting victory again just five months after a recall election brought him to power, the Republican governor said the borrowing plan would make California “the golden state that it once was”.

“I love it when the people go to the polls and they flex their muscles and they let their voices be heard,” Mr Schwarzenegger said at a rally, a month after public opinion polls had all but declared his $15 billion proposition dead.