The … heavenly … view from our front yard in Playa Granda, Costa Rica. Click the image to see it fullscreen!

“The bottom line is, even me as a celebrity governor — even with that, I can’t penetrate through certain things.” That’s just one of the gems Mark Leibovich gets out of Arnold Schwarzenegger in his surprisingly candid look into the standing of California politics and the upcoming governor’s race.

For liberal-leaning peeps, it basically comes down to a “new” face vs. “old guard” (San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom and 71-year-old two-time governor Jerry Brown). For you conservatives: varying shades of the same ish (varying in their views on same-sex rights, mostly). Your team is led by former eBay C.E.O. (and former McCain enthusiast) Meg Whitman. Whitman likens the situation to the board room; naturally, she’s ready to whip the state into shape. From the article, at a recent campaign appearance:

She claims that’s why eBay’s founder, Pierre Omidyar, hired her: “Pierre said he was looking for adult supervision at eBay.”

Adult supervision! Perfect! Anyway, most everyone agrees that the state is in trouble (though make the point that California always seems to be in trouble); but this time it seems to be a different kind of trouble … and opportunity. Check it out, it’s a great Times Magazine article on the Arnold-led leadership crisis and who is poised to take on the challenge.

This is where Ryan and I stayed in Costa Rica while writing our next project — our every day for two months. Make sure to click and see the whole image fullscreen! More sweet beach pics after the break. more →