Democrat Jerry Brown appears to have won his bid to return as California governor and will succeed Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, reports The Australian.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Brown, who was governor from 1975-83, beat his Republican opponent Meg Whitman, the billionaire former chief executive of eBay, to take the state by a margin of 49 per cent to 46, CNN said, citing exit polls.<\/p>\n
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Whitman had reportedly spent over $US140 million of her own fortune in a bid to take the governorship of the most populous state in the US.<\/p>\n
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Brown’s victory came on a good night for the Democrats in California, where Senator Barbara Boxer held onto her Senate seat for President Barack Obama’s party in mid-term elections.<\/p>\n
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Meanwhile Californians rejected a proposal to make their famously laid-back US state the world’s first to legalize all marijuana consumption, cultivation and trade.<\/p>\n
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The proposals in so-called Proposition 19 \u2014 one of a series of referendums held at the same time as crucial mid-term polls \u2014 were rejected by 57 per cent against 43 per cent in favour, said CNN, while Fox News also forecast a No vote.<\/p>\n
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The Los Angeles Times also projected that the proposal would be defeated, based on exit polls.<\/p>\n
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Former champion bodybuilder and movie star Schwarzenegger will have served for a little over seven years when he finally steps down in January.<\/p>\n
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While he impressed many by his transformation into a liberal Republican and green champion who won reelection in 2006, his poll ratings have slid of late, in line with California’s dire economic fortunes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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