Ascendant Gov. Jerry Brown faces challenges

Having two-thirds majorities of Democrats in the Assembly and Senate at various points in the past year also has made governing easier.

“How much credit he can really take, I’m not so sure. I give him Prop. 30; I give him that hands-down,” said Larry Gerston, a political scientist at San Jose State University.

But he said California has benefited from the larger rebound in the nation’s economy.

“And so, when things are rolling, the governor takes a disproportionate credit for what’s happened. And when things are foundering, the governor gets disproportionate blame. He deserves neither the credit nor the blame,” Gerston said.

The governor’s rosy rhetoric about the state’s ascendency also might be out of step with the experience of many Californians. A survey by the Public Policy Institute of California released in December found that two-thirds of Californians believe the state remains in a recession and is divided between the haves and have-nots.

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