EDITORIAL WORKING TOGETHER BUSH, KERRY SHOULD TAKE A LESSON FROM ARNOLD ON WHAT PUBLIC WANTS.

MORE than anything else, the triumph of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's state bailout measures Tuesday was a victory for the people of California, and a hopeful sign of a bipartisan partnership working together to solve the people's problems.

The Republican's unseating of a Democratic governor in the recall election ruffled many Sacramento feathers last October. That makes Schwarzenegger's bipartisan support base for Propositions 57 and 58, the $15 billion bond and spending cap measure, all the more remarkable.

To win support for the bond needed to get the state on the road to fiscal recovery, Schwarzenegger brought legislators together and got both sides to yield ground for the public good. His strategy isolated perpetual critics such as Democratic state Treasurer Phil Angelides on the tax-crazy left and Republican Sen. Tom McClintock on the anti-tax-crazy right. They threw their stones from the far sides of both aisles while Schwarzenegger brought most of the leadership of both parties and most voters together in the center.

Democratic Controller Steve Westly, Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, even Democratic Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn and Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez recognized that polarizing demagoguery no longer works in the Golden State.

``The message there from the voters is they want so see the Democratic Legislature and Republican governor working together,'' Nuez said Tuesday night after it became clear Propositions 57 and 58 were landslide winners and Proposition 56 - the license-to-tax measure - was crushed by voters.

This new spirit of bipartisanship is what will be the saving grace for California if both sides keep working together for the greater good of the state and its people.

That makes a sharp contrast, to be sure, to the presidential race, which is widely expected to be the nastiest and most divisive in years.

President George W. Bush and Democratic Sen. John Kerry appear to be gearing up for the kind of street fight that will turn the majority of Americans against them both.

Americans are fed up with destructive political wars of ideology and ego that only serve to further divide us while the special interests thrive in the confusion and conflict, and our problems grow worse.

Bush, Kerry and political leaders at all levels ought to learn from novice politician Schwarzenegger, who has revived hope that the problems we face will be solved, and we will soon be moving forward toward better times for all.

We can only hope that Schwarzenegger continues to succeed in creating bipartisan solutions to the people's problems, and that once again, a trend that started in California will spread like wildfire across the whole nation.