EDITORIAL ARNOLD'S MANDATE GOVERNOR'S VICTORIES ARE A TRIUMPH FOR PRAGMATISM.

TUESDAY'S election couldn't have gone better for Arnold Schwarzenegger: He scored a landslide re-election over Phil Angelides and big wins for five infrastructure bonds. Yet to hear the governor tell it, he doesn't have a personal mandate.

And he's right.

No, what Schwarzenegger achieved Tuesday is bigger -- and more important -- than some fleeting claim on the public's approval.

``Tonight I believe the people have given us a mandate,'' said Schwarzenegger in his victory speech. ``Not a mandate for me, not a mandate for any specific party, but a mandate to move the state ahead. A mandate for leadership. A mandate to build a better and brighter future for California.''

In an election that overwhelmingly went the Democrats' way, across the nation and throughout the state, this Republican governor triumphed precisely because he eschewed partisan politics.

Clearly Schwarzenegger learned an important lesson in last year's special-election debacle: Picking fights is no way to move California forward. In a state with many powerful and vested interests, the only real path to progress is to try to get all the players together to work for the common good.

Which is why the governor came up with his $37 billion bond program -- the state's first serious infrastructure investment since the days of Pat Brown. The plan will help to update California's dilapidated and inadequate roads, freeways, schools, housing and levees.

For decades, while Sacramento blissfully spent billions on far less pressing needs, no one took the leadership in addressing the state's infrastructure crisis. Schwarzenegger recognized the need, and together with Democratic legislative leaders, provided the necessary leadership.

For that, he gets a well-earned second term -- and the people have been given a mandate to keep moving California forward.