Arnold Does Manhattan

...But not all of the governor's achievements are worth celebrating...

...Yet this Tuesday night, California's Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor of a state President Bush has no hope of winning, is delivering a prime-time speech to the Republican National Convention in New York...

...Beneath an enormous banner reading "Promises Made...

...Schwarzenegger paid vendors like San Francisco's Hartmann Studios more than $600,000 this year to choreograph his public appearances...

...Arnold has no interest in any legislative role," he says...

...Although corporate contributors are underwriting the cost of his visit to the tune of $350,000, he's not even a delegate to the convention...

...Operating out of a canvas smoking tent erected on a patio outside his Capitol office, Schwarzenegger welcomes visitors with a cigar and an invitation to swing the 3-foot sword he used in Conan the Barbarian...

...Promises Kept" in a ceremony that could have been directed by Howard Hawks, Schwarzenegger and the Indian chiefs exchanged gifts and did everything but smoke a peace pipe...

...After Tuesday's speech, he'll head to the Boat House in Central Park where he's the guest of honor at a lavish gala hosted by the film and recording industries...

...During the campaign, Schwarzenegger promised he would never cater to special interests, if only because he was a millionaire not dependent on political donations...

...And by the time the president accepts the nomination Thursday night, Schwarzenegger should be back in California watching the balloon drop on TV...

...So far this year his fundraising efforts have netted an average of $2 million a month, about $400,000 more than the $1.6 million Gray Davis averaged during his five years in office...

...If criticism is muted, it's because Californians no longer sell Arnold short...

...He supports abortion and is ambivalent about gay marriage...

...For all his tough talk, he's the real girly man...

...But you won't see Arnold standing beside the California standard during the roll call of the states...

...The tent is a small corner of Hollywood transplanted to the Sacramento Valley...

...Despite ^^^ this leverage he's been surprisingly eager to roll over...

...In fact, the budget is balanced only because of massive borrowing, accounting tricks, and false revenue assumptions...

...Schwarzenegger ar-1 rived in Sacramento with impressive political skills and a clear man-jflMl date to clean house," ^^H Walters adds...

...He did use his own money, much of it coming from personal bank loans he intended to have political contributors repay after the election...

...The following day, it's off to a school in Harlem for an afternoon photo op...

...State senator Tom McClintock, the leading Republican candidate to replace Gov...

...This is a fair and responsible budget," he said, smiling...

...According to various accounts, it's also a hangout for weight-lifting buddies who occasionally join the governor in gulping handfuls of nutritional supplements that include flax seed oil, B-12 vitamins, and Ester-C...

...Incessant fundraising was a major factor contributing to the demise of Gray Davis...

...Others predict he'll run for the Senate against Dianne Feinstein so he can exit Sacramento before all California's debts come due...

...But that's not going to happen...

...In June he celebrated a deal with five Indian tribes that should produce $1.5 billion in additional state revenues...

...Close friend and political mentor Pete Wilson knows only what's not likely to occur...

...Neither will he appear in the company of George Bush, Dick Cheney, or any other senior administration official...

...His aides then said the reason he's not staying longer is that a bipartisan governor like Arnold doesn't need to concern himself with frivolous political pomp...

...On Thursday, he'll attend a red carpet luncheon for the California delegation at Planet Hollywood...

...It is balanced and it does not raise taxes...

...Along with the carrots comes the occasional stick...

...Even the Los Angeles Times—which opposed the recall, made Hollywood philandering a campaign issue, and continues to criticize his eccentricities—conceded in a recent editorial that "somehow the cloak of failure doesn't fit him...

...is departing early because he has to decide the fate of more than 1,000 bills passed in the final hours of the legislative session...

...Arguably the Republican party's most charismatic leader, Schwarzenegger will be all over New York at the start of the convention...

...Schwarzenegger's quest for cash has attracted relatively little criticism, perhaps because much of it goes for perks for political allies...

...You can be a popular governor or an effective governor," says Sa^-ramento Bee political columnist Dan Walters...

...Show business friends like Danny DeVito and Rob Lowe stop by often and are generous with advice regarding staff-prepared speeches that Schwarzenegger continues to call "scripts...

...The governor's office in Sacramento initially said Schwarzenegger East-West News Service editor David DeVoss reports on California politics...

...Some of Schwarzenegger's most vocal supporters, however, privately worry that the self-proclaimed "action governor" is too quick to compromise, has done little to eliminate the legislative gridlock that prompted the controversial recall, and has failed to move rapidly to restore fiscal balance to the state budget...

...Some political observers believe Schwarzenegger will declare victory at a huge political rally and return to Hollywood when his term expires in 2006...

...Unfortunately, Arnold loves to be loved...

...The biggest change may be that California for the first time in memory has a governor with a mesmerizing personality with whom people identify...

...But a Sacramento judge ruled the scheme illegal...

...For Californians, Arnold is a national figure who ranks alongside Colin Powell, John McCain, and Rudy Giuliani," maintains state GOP chairman Duf Sundheim...

...The next obvious step would be up to the national level where he could be chief executive or vice president...

...About $450,000 has been spent this year on travel for consultants and political aides, some of whom are rewarded with trips on the executive jet leased by his Santa Monica production company...

...A simpler explanation may be that Schwarzenegger knows the final day of the convention belongs to George Bush and sees no reason to linger once the spotlight shifts...

...He paid campaign consultants $1.5 million, spent $437,000 on attorneys and accountants, and gave pollsters more than $300,000...

...After that, Schwarzenegger was aggressively looking for contributions...

...He's a PR genius with great instincts who can work a crowd like no politician I've ever seen before," says former governor Pete Wilson...

...In less than a year in office, he has won voter approval for $15 billion in bonds that saved the state from financial ruin, convinced several Indian tribes to give the state a larger percentage of their gambling revenues, pushed legislation that lowered the cost of workers' compensation, and initiated a major study on ways to make state government more efficient...

...leadership abilities are the best of any governor I've ever worked with...

...Schwarzenegger is not shy when it comes to taking credit for political accomplishments...

...Such high production values don't come cheap...

...Recently, he funded a separate political corporation with $240,000 to pay for political rallies in districts where uncooperative legislators need to be shown who's boss...

...But journalists pointed out that the governor has 30 days to process pending legislation...

...Gray Davis in last year's recall election until Schwarzenegger entered the race, grudgingly admits, "Arnold's political skills and natural Schwarzenegger knows that the final day of the convention belongs to George Bush and sees no reason to linger once the spotlight shifts...

...Everybody in California seems to love Arnold...

...Noticeably absent from the ceremony were most of the state's 46 Republican legislators, more than a third of whom refused to vote for the document...

...Reportedly, Maria Shriver is no longer looking for a house in Sacramento, a fact that is cited as proof for both scenarios...

...State spending has actually increased and so dramatically that deficits of up to $10 bilhon are projected for each of the next two years...

...Wearing a dark gray suit, lime-green tie, and cowboy boots embroidered with the governor's official seal, Schwarzenegger praised California's $105 billion state budget at a festive signing earlier this month...