Just The Beginning?

Yesterday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested that the four amended compacts up for vote in a few days may just be the beginning.

In frank comments, the governor also said the billions promised to the state were his primary, if not sole, motive in negotiating these agreements.

"I'm interested in one thing, and one thing only, that ... the Indian gaming tribes pay their fair share, and ... that we in California get the money, because we need the money," Schwarzenegger told the Sacramento Press Club.

"This is $9 billion ... and when we are finished with all the negotiations with all the tribes -- because we're not finished yet -- it will be approximately $22 billion that we will get over the next 20 years," the governor said.

Schwarzenegger did not say which tribes, or how many, are prepared to offer deals that would pay the state another $13 billion over the next two decades.

Aides to the governor also could not elaborate.