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)

Some voters see Schwarzenegger as his own man with values very different from the president's.

For example, a recent poll by the Public Policy Institute found that a third of the Democrats who disapprove of Bush still think the governor is doing a good job. Bush was at 35 percent approval in the Public Policy Institute poll, while Schwarzenegger was at 53 percent.

This week, Angelides tried to turn the Iraq war, highly unpopular in California, into a state issue by saying he would petition Bush to withdraw California's National Guard troops from Iraq if he were elected governor.

Schwarzenegger has supported the war since its inception, but he has avoided talking about it since the Democratic primary. Angelides also has had trouble being heard while the governor commands attention as he signs many bills that distinguish him from Bush's conservatism.

Schwarzenegger strategist Matthew Dowd said the Bush comparison "doesn't work in people's minds. They basically start asking the question, 'Why doesn't Phil talk about things that matter?'"

Bill Carrick, a strategist for Angelides, said the polls are just measuring the effects of the lopsided television war through the summer, in which Schwarzenegger and the Republican Party outspent Angelides and the Democrats $30 million to $6 million.

He said the links to Bush will keep Democrats from defecting to Schwarzenegger.

"We're in the process of telling the voters," Carrick said. "It's not over."