KEN SAECHAO and Robbie Block were among school budget protesters who trudged 70 miles over eight days, from the East Bay to the Capitol -- only to see kids burst into tears because Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger didn't meet with them. It's a feeling demonstrators at the unprecedented stream of rallies against deficit-driven cuts know well -- the new governor is ignoring the events as he quietly forges select deals for revising his proposed budget next week. And he's popular enough to pull it off.

"Schwarzenegger is not going out to meet and talk with protesters because he fully expects the cuts to hit them and has forewarned people that this is coming," said Barbara O'Connor of the Institute for the Study of Politics and Media in Sacramento.

"The governor has said the next two years are going to be very hard on all of us and he has no intention of altering his position," O'Con- nor said. "He can use that blanket statement as a defense against any group that demonstrates."

Though snubbed by the governor and sometimes legislators, protests against cuts in education, social programs and other services have reached an unprecedented average of about one a day somewhere in California.

The parade of demonstrations comes in a state that's been upended by a huge deficit, a partisan stand-off blocking tax hikes to ease spending cuts and a recall election that put a Republican actor-turned-politician at the helm.

The rallies are largely staged for the media by interest groups or politicians trying to influence other politicians on the budget. Most are at the Capitol, though

many are in the liberal Bay Area, where protests have, in the past, helped influence history. And the region remains home to many advocacy groups holding Sacramento events. But even the threat of media attention -- which is waning as the demonstrations grow more frequent -- isn't enough to worry a popular new governor who already has scored victories such as voter passage of a $15billion deficit bond and an overhaul of the workers' compensation system.

"In this political climate, a protest or a rally doesn't have the same (political) capital as it does when the governor doesn't have an independent source of public support," O'Connor said.

Demonstrations in past years -- on wildly varying issues ranging from motorcycle helmets to vehicle smog checks -- have helped shape politicians' decisions.

Some protesters say that learning the new political landscape has been tough.

"I hate to say it, but there were a lot of kids who were disappointed," said Block, an organizer of the recent trek that began in San Pablo and ended at the Capitol without an appearance by the governor. "There were tears."

Saechao, a 10-year-old fourth-grader in the West Contra Costa Unified School District, delivered his speech, aimed at the governor, even though Schwarzenegger skipped the rally.

"You said you wanted to be governor to give us money, but you want to take it away. We're not going to get our education," the youngster said.

The West Contra Costa district has its own set of fiscal problems, but they are similar to those of hard-pressed K-12 districts and other government programs of all kinds across the state.

Schwarzenegger spokesman H.D. Palmer said the budget situation has "required savings to be achieved across every aspect of state government."

And Republicans are quick to point out that Democrats are orchestrating some of the events -- particularly Treasurer Phil Angelides, a likely gubernatorial candidate in 2006. He's been attacking Schwarzenegger's proposed higher education budget and stand against tax hikes in particular.

"The governor's budget is unfair," he said at a recent rally in Sacramento. "It asks students to sacrifice, and it imposes damaging higher education cuts that threaten our future prosperity, without even attempting to close one corporate tax loophole or restore the upper income tax rates on the wealthiest Californians."

But Schwarzenegger administration officials assign much of the blame for the multibillion-dollar deficit on overspending by former Democratic Gov. Gray Davis and the Democrat-dominated Legislature.

Furthermore, according to Schwarzenegger administration officials, taxpayers should not be punished for the previous administration's mistakes.

Responding to attacks on Schwarzenegger's proposed higher education spending plan, Palmer said that "in putting together our budget, our goal was to protect and maintain funding for core academic, core instructional programs at both UC and CSU."

Palmer said the governor was working with leaders of both systems and that "they clearly understand the depth and the breadth of the fiscal crisis that the governor inherited. We'll continue to work with them to try to weather this fiscal crisis."

Behind the scenes, before he unveils his revised spending plan next week, Schwarzenegger has been reaching out, as well, to other major budget stakeholders -- from Indian gambling tribes to local government officials.

The talks hold advantages for both, likely reducing confrontations between the governor and various interests, while the stakeholders get the opportunity to work out terms rather than just having cuts imposed on them.

Indian gaming tribes are close to a deal in which they would share a bigger portion of casino profits with the state. And local governments are similarly near a pact in which they'd accept significant cuts in trade for Schwarzenegger's support of a constitutional amendment that would shield future funding for cities and counties.

In a surprise budget twist, the Schwarzenegger administration has abandoned its plan to scrap services provided to the state's homebound disabled children and adults, such as meal preparation and housekeeping.

But many advocates for the state's most vulnerable -- the poor, seniors, disabled and children -- remain pessimistic as they look toward Schwarzenegger's mid-May budget revision. And some are testing new ways to gain attention.

A core group of adults among the West Contra Costa school district group that marched to Sacramento last month, in the unsuccessful attempt to talk with Schwarzenegger, plans a two-week hunger strike.