Los Angeles - Veteran US Democrat Jerry Brown won back his old job as California governor, but faces a huge task to revive its struggling economy - the eighth largest in the world - experts said on Wednesday.
The 72-year-old - who first held the job from 1975-83 - will take over from “Governator” Arnold Schwarzenegger in January after defeating Republican billionaire Meg Whitman, the former eBay chief, in Tuesday's election.
But the celebration party will come to a quick and sober end as he faces up to the scale of California's problems, including a budget deficit estimated at more than $20-billion over the next tax year.
Unemployment hovering around 12-13 percent and record foreclosure rates on homes have fuelled frustration in the state which is home to Silicon Valley and Hollywood but which has been hit hard by the global economic downturn.
“I think the problems are extremely daunting,” said Ange-Marie Hancock, Associate professor of Political Science at the University of Southern California (USC).
“The issue will be getting California working again so that the foreclosure crisis doesn't continue, because now it's people losing their jobs that are leading to foreclosures,” she told reporters.
Brown was the youngest California governor since the 1850s when first elected at the age of 36, and will be the oldest ever to hold the post this time.
He acknowledged the scale of the task in his victory speech on Tuesday night, saying: “We might and we will have times that will be tough. How long they'll last (could be) a year, maybe longer.”
And he pledged to work to ease the poisonous atmosphere between Democrats and rivals in the Republican party and the ultra-conservative Tea Party movement, which clouded campaigning both in California and across the US.
“There are divisions tonight in California, there'll be divisions in the state capital, there'll be divisions in Washington,” he said, adding: “I take as my challenge forging a common purpose” after the acrimonious poll period.
Whitman - who spent over $160-million of her own fortune on her failed bid - echoed the sentiments, saying: “It is now time for California to unite behind the common cause of turning around the state that we love.”
Budget cuts have fuelled particular anger - in recent months some Californian public services have been forced to close for one day a week to save money.
California's lawmakers finally adopted the debt-ridden state's annual budget on October 7, three months late, with spending cuts of nearly $8.4-billion to pare down a $19-billion deficit.
Hancock noted that on that front, voters backed a separate referendum proposal on Tuesday which should make it easier to pass the state's budget by a simple majority.
“But of course figuring out where to cut will still be quite difficult,” she said.
Jane Junn, a professor and research director of the USC College/Los Angeles Times poll, said Brown faces “a significant challenge to get California going again” - but was cautiously upbeat about his prospects.
“It's a state with tremendous resources, not only just in terms of natural resources and capacity but also in human capital,” she said.
She also defended outgoing governor Schwarzenegger from critics who lay the blame for California's woes on the former Austrian bodybuilder and ex-film star's shoulders.
“He's to blame for some of it, but it's an easy target to blame the outgoing governor during a time of crisis,” she added.
While Brown said California's hard times could last a year or more, Hancock forecast that voters will not give him such a long honeymoon period, as they battle to keep their jobs and homes.
“The voters expressed not a lot of patience. I think he will get no more than six months' grace,” she said. - Sapa-AFP