GOVERNING BY INITIATIVE: What's Happening Now in California, and What It Means to the Nation

Governor Schwarzenegger's current campaign for redistricting, spending caps, and the reform of teacher pay and state pensions is but one of many efforts to bring another round of initiatives to California ballots this fall. Two of the state's leading political commentators will lead this public forum and discuss what direct democracy means for voter participation and empowerment in California and in the rest of the West.

Leading the discussion will be Professor Bruce Cain and Mr. Peter Schrag. Bruce Cain is Robson Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, and Director of the Institute of Governmental Studies. Professor Cain has served as a consultant for state and senate races and as a redistricting consultant to (among others) the United States Justice Department, Los Angeles County; San Diego Citizens' Commission on Redistricting; and the City and County of San Francisco.

Peter Schrag, former editorial page editor for the Sacramento Bee, is a longtime education writer and editor. Author of Paradise Lost: California's Experience, America's Future and Final Test: The Battle for Adequacy in America's Schools, Schrag has also taught at the Graduate School of Journalism and the Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley.