He failed when he tried to go city-by-city throughout the state shortly after his inauguration to build local support for his agenda. He failed last year when he paid "superstar" budget consultant Donna Arduin $165,000 for eight months of work in which she did little but help him craft a spending plan for this fiscal year that relied on $2 billion in phantom savings. He failed in February when he put forth a budget for next year with a $3.5 billion hole in it. He failed last month in the primary elections when he tried to unseat a Republican state senator who'd cast pro-union votes and tried to retain a Democratic state representative who'd supported him at key moments.