If you left the TV set for a quick snack Wednesday night, you would’ve missed what sounded like the only kind of new nugget of information in the latest televised forum with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The governor was at the Sacramento studios of KCRA-TV, fielding questions about his four ballot initiatives, when he happened to mention how he might use the powers contained in the budget initiative– Proposition 76.

An audience member asked Schwarzenegger how he might use the often-debated exclusive power of cutting spending contained in Prop 76. And the answer included a slightly new message: he would likely solve a budget deficit by simply spreading out the impact.

“You cut across the board, in order to be really fiscally responsible,” the governor said.

An across the board cut is not a new idea; in fact, it was the mechanism contained in the legislative version of Prop 76 that failed to pass this year. But the initiative version was modified, probably to mollify some critics, so that a governor had discretion over how to dole out budget cuts.

Across the board cuts would treat every state program the same. Some budget watchers say it’s only fair, because then nothing gets preferential treatment. Others, however, say it’s the worst kind of fiscal strategy, because it doesn’t distinguish between programs that are working and ones that are frivolous.

Schwarzenegger didn’t go into any more detail about what he meant. But the comments may give some insight into how he would wield those new powers, should Prop 76 be approved next week.