EDITORIAL ARNOLD'S NEXT MISSION FAIR REDISTRICTING CAN TURN SACRAMENTO AROUND.

FOR Californians, the biggest setback in last week's elections was the defeat of Proposition 62 and the victory of the Legislature's cynical Proposition 60 - thus marking the end of any hope for open primaries.

Thanks to gerrymandering engineered in a conspiracy of both Democrats and Republicans, all 120 seats in the Legislature are safely in the hands of the party that holds them. That's why no seat in California's Legislature or its congressional delegation changed hands on Tuesday, despite many costly campaigns and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's efforts to influence key races. Open primaries would have at least given voters some choice in a rigged system.

But open primaries were never the full solution - fair redistricting is. And, for that, it will take a ballot initiative mandating that a nonpartisan commission, and not the politicized Legislature, draw up districts in the future.

Schwarzenegger has proved highly effective at passing ballot propositions in the past. Now, to make good on his promise of turning Sacramento around, fair redistricting must be his next mission.