IT’S A BILLBOARD OF THE TIMES. Paid for by the California Nurses Association and posted along highways east and west of Sacramento, the billboards depict three images of Arnold Schwarzenegger–a full head shot, followed by a partial facial image, then finally just the man’s hair and forehead–leaving the impression of a Governator drowning in quicksand.

Such is Big Labor’s dream: that Schwarzenegger and his reform agenda will fade away. And such is the reality of a bruising special election now in its closing stage: To defeat Arnold, California’s unions have adopted a strategy of taking the low road and spending great gobs of money in what may turn out to be one of the grandest and most futile gestures in state political history.