It's one of the maxims of California politics: what the voters do, often only the voters can undo.

And that's the real story of Proposition 1D and Proposition 1E, both which were placed on the ballot by the Legislature in hopes of funneling more money into the state's beleaguered general fund. Of course, they also would mean money taken from programs voters endorsed in 1998 and 2004.

Our radio report on the measures aired this morning on The California Report.

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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.

"The answer is no."

Those were the words of Sen. Dave Cox, a Republican from the Sacramento suburbs who was widely believed to be the decisive third GOP vote for the $40 billion budget proposal.

But at 3:30 a.m. this morning, the veteran lawmaker was resolute, even after meeting with Governor Schwarzenegger and others throughout the night. In a way, he symbolized the general GOP consensus on the mammoth spending cuts and tax increase package: no thanks.

That being said, the minimum Republican votes were apparently lined up in the Assembly and ready to go. But when things failed to gel in the Senate, the lower house's budget debate came to a halt.

The package of bills included a few items not related to the budget at all, including a last-minute gift to rental car companies -- passing along a portion of each car's annual vehicle license fee to renters. More on that to come in another posting. But none of the package is headed anywhere until the tax proposals are approved. And that means a third GOP Senate vote; the early tally was 26-12, with Sen. Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersefield), a possible second vote behind Senate GOP Leader Dave Cogdill, abstaining.

So now what? Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg doesn't seem ready to throw in the towel. And with Cox uninterested in being vote number 27 (that being the two thirds needed in the Senate), the attention turned, albeit briefly, to Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria), who broke ranks for a budget vote in 2007 -- even though Maldo has already publicly said he isn't interested.

The sun will be coming up soon. As Scarlett O'Hara once said, "Tomorrow's another day."

(By the way, thanks to all who followed the Twitter escapade last night. It may be picked back up, depending on events.)

Like every good state Capitol denizen, I still have the yellow books sitting on a shelf here in the bureau. It's a handsomely bound set dominated by two volumes each the size of a San Francisco phone book, emblazoned with a memorable title: "A Government For The People For A Change."

"It" is the California Performance Review, the somewhat quixotic adventure of 2004 that attempted to make good on Governor Schwarzenegger's promise to "blow up the boxes" of state government.

It's back. Sort of.

The CPR was a three month endeavor, carried out by a few hundred state employees and endorsed by the governor, to find places for saving money in state government. "This report is a top-to-bottom look at how to improve our government," said Schwarzenegger at an August 2004 event staged inside a state surplus warehouse.

But by that fall, the commission appointed by the governor to review the CPR suggested it needed more work. The bipartisan group, as a story in the Orange County Register reported, "said several aspects of the 2,500 page plan commissioned by the governor need to be done over or delayed because they don't address the state's true problems."

That's not to say the CPR produced zero change; a few of its suggestions, like the creation of a state public health officer, were carried out.

But many more were deemed either not ready for prime time or declared DOA by powerful interest groups. Schwarzenegger himself dropped a high-profile push to abolish 88 state boards and commissions.

Now, during what appears to be one of the worst budget crises in state history, the CPR is back -- with the governor's fellow Republicans using every opportunity to urge folks to dust off those yellow books.

The buzz seemed to begin a few weeks ago after one of the infamous Big Five budget meetings, when Assembly GOP Leader Mike Villines told reporters that government reform should be back on the table. He and other Republican legislators have repeated these demands almost daily ever since.

At a meet-and-greet with new GOP legislators last week, Villines said he knows the CPR ideas aren't worth enough in savings to make a sizeable dent in the projected $11.2 budget this year, but that it's not the point.

"Things like [the CPR recommendations] are symbolic," he said. "I know it won't be a huge cut, but when you start doing those things, then Californians can say, 'Okay, we're open to a discussion on other things.'"

Other things, one presumes, would mean tax increases.

Sen. Dave Cox (R-Fair Oaks) took his own shot at yesterday's joint convention, using his alloted question time to lift the big books up for the cameras and suggest someone re-open them.

Democrats, though, seem unimpressed.

“It is not an answer," said Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg last week, "to say, 'Well, government needs to just be more efficient, therefore we're not going to solve the [larger] problem."

But in the battle over messaging, Republicans must think that they've found a winner. Every GOP freshman I interviewed at last week's gathering mentioned the need to ferret out waste, fraud, and abuse. And their state party took up the cause this afternoon.

"Lawmakers need to find the waste and fraud," screamed a press release from the California Republican Party. "Democrat calls for even higher taxes to fund more of this waste only adds insult to injury."

Will the yellow books come back into play? Are there a few of the proposals that deserve a second look? Is the governor interested in trying again to blow up the boxes? Tough to say at this point; both sides admit these aren't big dollar items, but disagree on whether that matters.