EDITORIAL CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'.

THERE was a defining moment in Arnold Schwarzenegger's Tuesday night victory speech, an indication that the popular revolution that just elected a new governor might also inaugurate a new era in California politics.

The moment came when Schwarzenegger acknowledged receiving ``a gracious phone call from Gov. Gray Davis'' - only to be met with catcalls from an overly partisan supporter.

Schwarzenegger would have nothing of it.

Turning his back to the audience, he singled out the jeerer with a stern reprimand. ``No, no,'' Arnold said. He wasn't going to go there. He was making good on his declaration that ``For the people to win, politics as usual must lose.''

Instead, Schwarzenegger extended to his former opponents what he called ``the olive branch of political reconciliation so that we can move California forward.''

He set the perfect tone for the upcoming transition of power, and the future of California politics.

So, for that matter, did Davis, in what surely was the most heartbreaking moment of his public life.

In a truly gracious performance, Davis used his concession speech to mend fences and urge Californians to work together. When overly partisan supporters of his own campaign interrupted to jeer the mention of Schwarzenegger's name, Davis also tried (albeit futilely) to get them to stop.

It was as if Davis had learned a lesson from the failure of his own bitterly partisan and negative campaign to keep him in office. He, too, saw the need for Californians to unite for the common good, rather than divide in a permanent and destructive ideological battle.

There are many reasons why the public voted to oust Davis and replace him with Schwarzenegger. The nature of the campaign was one, as was Davis' bland public persona compared with Schwarzenegger's overpowering charisma.

But the most important among them was the public's dissatisfaction with the state of affairs in Sacramento.

In some ways, Davis is a fall guy. Blame for the defects of state government, stemming from a culture of rigid partisanship and rampant influence-peddling, by no means belongs to him alone. Lawmakers of all parties and at all levels share culpability.

But Davis, as the man at the top, was the symbol of all that was wrong, and the master of an ugly political game of which the public had grown tired.

And so he paid the price.

And unless other state leaders learn from his experience, they will ultimately pay the price, too.

The public has lost all patience for government that puts special interests above the public interest, that cares more about partisan score-settling than the common good.

The at-times thrilling, agonizing and revitalizing spectacle of recall is over, and the hard work of rebuilding California must begin.

To live up to the trust California voters have put in him, Schwarzenegger will need to demand more from his fellow politicians, and continue to reprimand those who would revert to the old way of doing business.

Most of all, he will need the help of the California people.

Apathy and defeatism must be banished. Only a public that stays vigilant, keeps informed and gets involved will stop the pandering to special interests and restore the California dream.

As Gov.-elect Schwarzenegger observed, ``Together, we can make this again the greatest state of the greatest country in the world.''