Actor Calls for Overhaul of State Economic Engine
By CHARLIE LeDUFF
NORWALK, Calif., Aug 7 — Arnold Schwarzenegger took the second step in his fledgling campaign for governor this afternoon, stopping to pick up his application papers.
It was a scene similar to a Hollywood premiere, with Mr. Schwarzenegger signing T-shirts and photo albums for shrieking fans. Some said they were voters, some said they were not, others said they just wanted their car tax cut.
In a short news conference on the steps of the Los Angeles County Registrar building, Mr. Schwarzenegger, the hulking 56-year-old movie star, was skimpy on details about how he would conduct his two-month campaign or how he might conduct business in California should he unseat Gov. Gray Davis.
"I have a very, very good agenda," Mr. Schwarzenegger promised. "We have to overhaul our economic engine in California. We have to bring back businesses to California and to make sure that everyone in California has a great job, a fantastic job."
He said he would reveal a comprehensive plan in the next few weeks to balance the budget, cure an ailing educational system and encourage business back into the state while protecting the environment. He also said that as governor he would not negotiate with the special interests or special-interest politicians he said infested the state capital.
Asked about his lack of credentials or political experience, Mr. Schwarzenegger said there were more important things than qualifications.
"The most important thing when you run a state is leadership," he said. "Governor Davis has said his is experience you can't buy. Well, look what it's gotten us."
"In everything I ever did, I showed great leadership," he added and then launched into what is shaping up to be his stump speech, about a penniless farm boy from Austria who went to America and became the highest-paid entertainer in the world.
"The rags-to-riches story plays well in a state with so many immigrants," said a top Californian Republican strategist. "But at some point he has to make the transition. In a few weeks people will start to get sick of the bikini-wax jokes and the general circuslike atmosphere. He'll have to become a politician."
Mr. Schwarzenegger made his announcement Wednesday evening on the "Tonight" show. It was part high drama, part "Simpsons," with him reciting his famous movie lines, like "I'll be back" and saying the hardest decision he faced before this was the time he got a bikini wax.
His surprising plunge into political life propelled him into this morning's headlines, but the metamorphosis is not yet complete. Mr. Schwarzenegger's first one-on-one interview was not with a member of the political press corps, but with Pat O'Brien, host of "Access Hollywood."
Mr. Schwarzenegger could become a caricature of himself if he falls back on this strategy, some political veterans believe.
"The media, the scrutiny, it's going to be a new world for him," said Sheri Annis, who advised Mr. Schwarzenegger last fall when he was the sponsor of Proposition 49, a successful ballot initiative for after-school programs.
"He's extraordinarily smart, and extremely savvy, but he has to be careful," Ms. Annis said in an interview before Mr. Schwarzenegger entered the race. "When the press looks at an actor in Hollywood who doesn't do Shakespeare, they don't think there is a lot upstairs. So if he's protected too much from the political media, he'll have trouble."
Mr. Schwarzenegger's handlers said today that his first business was completing the paperwork, and second was touring the morning talk shows. Then he would begin to make himself available for substantive questions, they said. He plans to barnstorm the state. "The public will not be disappointed," said Sean Walsh, a spokesman for Mr. Schwarzenegger. "The public will see a lot of Arnold in the coming weeks."
Not only will his inexperience be an issue, but unflattering accusations are sure to surface, like the tabloid accounts of groping and boorish behavior on movie sets that surfaced when Mr. Schwarzenegger considered a run for governor two years ago. He said after his television announcement last night that he was expecting as much.
"I know they're going to throw everything at me and say I have no experience, that I'm a womanizer, that I'm a terrible guy," he said. "All these things are going to come my way. But this is why you have a great team together, a great staff. You fight these things off."
Mr. Schwarzenegger is not a student of the bond market, but he does have a correspondence degree in business from the University of Wisconsin. He won the Mr. Olympia bodybuilding title six years in a row beginning in 1970. He was the national fitness guru for the first President Bush and has devoted his life to promoting education and nonviolence among children. He has committed more than 500 on-screen murders, according to a Web site that tracks such things.
The election will be 59 days from Saturday. The filing deadline and the shortened format should help Mr. Schwarzenegger, said Karal Ann Marling, professor of pop culture and the University of Minnesota.
"If I was running his campaign, I'd have him say nothing," Ms. Marling said. "A 60-day election is a popularity contest. And in today's society, Arnold is the winner."
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http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/08/national/08ARNO.html
