Democratic Political Consultant Joe Cerrell was needling Donald Livingston, a member of former California Governor Ronald Reagan's cabinet. "Reagan must be ecstatic about his successor," joshed Cerrell. "No," Livingston retorted, "he thinks Jerry Brown has gone too far to the right."
If Democrat Brown, 37, bewildered people when he was running for Governor, he dumbfounds them now. Considered by opponents to be an unpredictable sort who would promote all kinds of costly innovations, Brown preaches frugality and the limits of government as much as the conservative Reagan ever did. In part, dwindling...