It was an unusual ending to a long day, the final day of the 2008-2009 fiscal year. But there was no surprise ending: the conventional wisdom won out, as the state slipped into the new budget year with no solutions in place to a deficit that could be as large as $24 billion.
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You're angry. You want to punish the politicians. And so... if you're like your fellow Californian who's been polled in recent weeks... you're going to cast a vote for Proposition 1F with glee. Off with their heads, er, pay raises!

Prop 1F was the focus of this morning's final look at the May 19 special election on The California Report.

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Unless something incredibly crazy happens, here's the first and only campaign prediction you'll see on this newsblog: Proposition 1F is going to pass on May 19. Big time.

The last public poll showed a whopping 81% of voters surveyed like the measure to deny pay raises for elected officials in bad budget years for the state. Shocking, no?

But the foregone conclusion feeling surrounding Prop 1F begs the question... what is state Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria) really selling on his new campaign website? The answer: a lot.
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Ah, the fun days of budget brawling aren't over yet.

Today's tussle features the most Republiucan legislator to vote in support of the $40 billion budget package last month... and the highest ranking Republican running for his party's nomination to be governor in 2010.
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As the budget drama drags through a third day (and likely soon to be night), the collective Capitol cacophony sounds out with only one question: what does Abel Maldonado want?

Maldonado, the veteran Central Coast legislator, remains in the center of the budget storm -- the Republican who many believe is most likely to be the deciding vote in both the Senate, and the Legislature, on the $42 billion deficit package now under consideration.

"Maldo," to use Capitol parlance, remains the odds-on favorite of most to be vote number 27. And not surprisingly, folks have wanted to know what he needs to be that guy.

This afternoon, Maldonado spoke to a scrum of reporters outside his Capitol office. And as you can hear below, his interests are just about every proposal rumored or gossiped about over the past 24 hours.

Before he left, I asked him to respond to what's now become an attack on Maldonado in this process: critics saying that he's angling for another run at statewide office, and the PR over this can't hurt.

We'll have to wait to see how this plays out. Both houses are now not scheduled to convene until tonight.

Well, get ready for Budget Drama Day Three.

With the necessary votes still elusive, the Senate adjourned tonight without acting on the full $42 billion deficit proposal that has been debated in public, and private, for more than 24 hours straight.

Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, in an emotional speech before adjournment, implored Republican senators to "deviate just a little" from their "mantra of 'no new revenue.'"

Steinberg's pointed floor remarks, responding to criticism of the process by Sen. Sam Aanestad (R-Grass Valley).

With only Senate GOP Leader Dave Cogdill voting this weekend to approve crucial parts of the budget deal, the package of bills sat in limbo all day and night Saturday and Sunday in search of two more GOP votes in the Senate. It's widely believed the package has the needed three GOP votes in the Assembly.

Three names have dominated the discussion for those last two votes: Sen. Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield), Sen. Dave Cox (R-Fair Oaks), and Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria).

With Ashburn largely considered a safe vote, that left one more. But when Cox emphatically told reporters in the wee hours today that he wasn't voting for the plan, the buzz and private lobbying turned to Maldonado.

(Even an unusual online plea from Sacramento's editorial writers couldn't sway Cox.)

And thus began an elaborate courtship of the Central Coast agricultural scion, including a long private meeting with Governor Schwarzenegger that "Maldo" described to reporters as cordial.

Maldonado's relationship with the governor was also mentioned more than once; the senator carried important legislation for Schwarzenegger in the past... but may not have gotten what he wanted when it came to other political aspirations.

The Capitol guessing game all day has been this: what does Maldonado want? As of tonight, one might suppose that game goes on.

Tonight's failure to launch means that the entire 27 bill package must begin its legislatie journey anew; apparently, legislative rules dictate that adjournment without completion meant that the bills already dealt with effectively had their votes wiped out. This means it's going to be another very long day... with nerves already frayed... and the state's finances still teetering. The stakes only seem to be getting higher.