Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

October 28, 2009

Schwarzenegger Sends a Message

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) used a creative way to let Democratic assemblyman Tom Ammiano -- who heckled him during a recent event -- know he was going to veto his bill.

Take a look at the actual letter and string together the first letter of each line down the left-hand margin.

The governor's spokesman called it "a weird coincidence."

Gary Langer: "What are the odds? Here's how not to figure it precisely, rather a quick and unsophisticated back-of-the-envelope calculation: If the odds of picking a particular letter at random are one in 26, doing it over seven selections (the number of letters in question) is (1/26)^7, or .0000000001245. Just about one in 10 billion."

Here's the letter:

Ammiano Veto Message

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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