"Party of One" by Sacramento Bee columnist Daniel Weintraub is the book i just finished reading. It is a very good read that i would highly recommend.
The start of "Governor" Schwarzenegger was something that I missed. When I came back from Iraq in the summer of 2003 I had missed the signature gathering for the recall and the tensions surrounding it. When I left, Gray Davis was getting inaugurated for his second term. When I got back, he was toast, and the candidates to replace him included the Terminator, a porn queen, Peter Ueberroth, and Arianna Huffington, 2002 GOP nominee Bill Simon, Gary Coleman, and Senator Tom McClintock. It seemed like things were more stable in Baghdad.
Many of you will not find the parts about the recall as interesting as I did. What you will find interesting is the observations of someone that has observed the Governor almost every day for the past four years.
We all have our views of the Governor that may be based on individual issues. Weintraub breaks down some of the policy positions of the Governor with individual chapters on infrastructure improvements, environmental reforms, health care, immigration, prison reform, education, redistricting, and post-partisanship.
The Weintraub writing style in this book is exactly what you get in the Sacramento Bee.
Even if you think you know everything about the Governor, Weintraub has so many good facts included in this book that most any political observer can take something valuable from it.
Like it or not, people all over the country are going to be looking for a road map on how to try and be more like our Governor. They will use this book to do it.
P.S. — Jon Fleischman is even mentioned on pages 87-88.