Schwarzenegger Declares He's Running for Governor Again

Part of Schwarzenegger's fall from grace is the inevitable waning of the novelty of an action hero as governor, said Tim Hodson, executive director of the Center for California Studies at California State University at Sacramento. But a good deal of credit also goes to the Alliance for a Better California, composed of 12 unions and Democratic activists who, since the spring, have flooded the airwaves with tens of millions of dollars in TV and radio spots that all sides agree have recast the political debate.

The ads feature nurses, firefighters, teachers and police officers hammering home one message: Schwarzenegger is the enemy of these professions. And in a country that still has not forgotten the sacrifices of such first responders following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and is now reeling from the fallout of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, the ads have hit home especially because they have gone unanswered.

"The ads have been very successful," acknowledged Karen Henretty, communications director for the state Republican Party. "You turned on the TV, and all you saw was firefighters who truly believed that the governor was going to take away benefits to widows and orphans."

When Schwarzenegger came to power, said Gale Kaufman, the mastermind behind the unions' campaign, "We had nowhere to go. He was a bipartisan governor who was really a bipartisan governor." But once he took on Sacramento's sacred cows -- public service unions -- "he gave us an opening and we've exploited it."

Kaufman seems pleased with her agit-prop and a little befuddled at the wild swings of political fortune. On her desk sits a doll of Schwarzenegger in a pink dress suit and pink pumps, "Governor Girlie Man" emblazoned on the base.

Schwarzenegger is seeking to avoid a defeat in the November special election that could weaken him further heading into next year's reelection campaign. Two Democrats, state Treasurer Phil Angelides and state Controller Steve Westly, have already announced they are running and polls put the governor in a tight race with either one.

But political commentators and strategists from both sides of the aisle caution that it is far too soon to start writing Schwarzenegger's political obituary. His life is a Horatio Algier-success story, and he is a fierce competitor.

"I learned most of my lessons from sports," he said Friday, "so, of course, I am going to follow through."

"The Democrats are sniffing glue if they think they've got him beat and are looking at the special election as the nail in Arnold's coffin," Hoffenblum argued.

Indeed, Angelides said in an interview Thursday that he would deal with the state's continued budgetary crisis by raising taxes, a bold position but a move widely seen to be politically suicidal in a state that sparked a nationwide taxpayers' revolt in the late 1970s.