Bush Not Dragging Schwarzenegger Down

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks to a crowd at the Western Command Post for the Day fire at Ventura County Fairgrounds in Ventura, Calif., on Saturday, Sept. 30, 2006. Schwarzenegger applauded firefighters for their efforts. (AP Photo/Julie Peters, Pool) (Julie Peters - AP)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Some say this is supposed to be the year President Bush and his flagging popularity bring down Republicans across the country.

But here in California, where Bush's popularity is at an all-time low, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn't appear to be suffering, even as his Democratic rival tries to tie him to the president.

State Treasurer Phil Angelides' attempts to discredit the governor in the eyes of Democratic voters who might be tempted to cross party lines have been largely drowned out by an outbreak of harmony.

Schwarzenegger has spent much of this year eluding the Bush comparison, publicly disagreeing with the president on issues from border patrols to stem cell research to global warming.

Schwarzenegger has also kept a distance from Bush since they met last spring in Silicon Valley. Bush will be in California on Tuesday to raise money for two Republican congressmen, but Schwarzenegger will not appear with him.

Instead, the governor will be campaigning _ with Democrats _ for infrastructure bonds on the November ballot.

The Democratic Party is reminding voters in a television commercial on the air for the past three weeks that Schwarzenegger campaigned for Bush in the closing days of the 2004 campaign in Ohio. The idea that the governor helped to get him re-elected disconcerts some voters, particularly those confused by the governor's changing political persona.

Recent polling suggests the Bush comparison is not working. Since the Democratic Party began running its ads, the nonpartisan Field Poll found Schwarzenegger has increased his lead slightly from 8 points to 10 points. The nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found Schwarzenegger's lead grew from 13 points to 17.

Designer Kay Waldman, a Democrat from Malibu who said she detests Bush but likes what she has seen of Schwarzenegger this year, saw a snippet of the Democratic ad and said it made her think twice about Schwarzenegger.

"All I know is when I saw that, I thought if he's that close to Bush, I would be very much opposed to him being our governor again," she said.

But Democrat Marilyn Lockhart, a retired teacher from Los Angeles, said that the ads linking Schwarzenegger to Bush struck her as propaganda, and that she has grown to like the governor _ at least better than she does Angelides. She said she'll probably vote for Schwarzenegger.

Tony Quinn, a legislative historian and California political analyst, said trying to link governor to Bush "lacks credibility because people think their governor is different."