THERE WAS A TIME when political winds flowed west to east across America. But this summer in California, the breeze blows the opposite way, with politicians here playing by East Coast rules.

In Sacramento, as in the nation’s capital, Democrats seek to undermine Republican rule by talking ethics and conspiracies. Only, California Democrats are smarter than their beltway cousins. They’re not wasting their time with personal attacks against presidential personnel. Instead, the target is the man at the top, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.