ACTION STAR REMAKES POLITICS.

Byline: David M. Drucker and Harrison Sheppard Staff Writers

With the ship of state seemingly sinking, Californians turned to Arnold Schwarzenegger to act the part of savior. But can he save California and restore its golden dreams? In this real-life political drama, we have already seen the first episode, with his election as governor and the triumph of his recovery plan. We explore what's happened, the sequel to come and the mystery of what could lie far ahead.

The Governator, Part I:

With California weighed down by massive budget deficits, an energy crisis that never ended and an economy recovering at a slower pace than the rest of the nation, many look to Sacramento - wondering if it might be part of the solution rather than its recent history of being part of the problem.

But one citizen doesn't just look.

He acts.

Is Arnold Schwarzenegger the answer?

In just a few short months, the bodybuilder-turned-actor-turned-governor has turned California politics inside out. Where once gridlock reigned, it now gives way to bipartisanship - some of the time. Catchphrases like ``working together'' and ``the people's business'' are now viewed by some as meaningful once again and not just a cynical ploy.

He's Mr. Charm.

But the real work remains.

The recall election that brought Schwarzenegger to power and his triumph last week in winning passage of his fiscal recovery package - Propositions 57 and 58 - are merely a prelude to the battles that lie ahead with the Legislature for the hearts and minds of voters.

Whether voters side with the governor - and whether the state improves on his watch - remains to be seen.

Still, he has made believers of many, and brought prominent Democrats and Republicans into the Schwarzenegger tent.

``By the time most governors or presidents take a bipartisan approach, they've already framed themselves as fairly partisan and confrontational,'' said GOP political strategist Dan Schnur. ``But the first impression Californians have of Schwarzenegger is his willingness to put partisanship aside, and first impressions are always the strongest.''

But the skeptics are unmoved, among them Democratic state Treasurer Phil Angelides - a possible future candidate for governor - and conservative Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock of Thousand Oaks, who gained prominence running for governor in the recall election.

Says Angelides:

``When you take away the flash, the glamour, the optics, we have a widening budget defict and a budget that proposes to go after children who need health care and students who want and need to be educated, while the governor leaves untouched the most privileged in California, doesn't ask them for one ounce of sacrifice and doesn't close one corporate tax loophole.

``I see an unfair budget and one that harms our economy.''

Adds McClintock:

``He has not brought state spending under control and the notion that we can somehow borrow our way out of this problem is a serious mistake.''

Faced with this kind of opposition, the Governator has taken his case to the people.

Whenever the Legislature has balked at implementing his vision, he has threatened to go to voters, using his personal popularity to circulate petitions for a ballot measure.

In December, when legislators were reluctant to place the measures on the ballot, Schwarzenegger held rallies in the districts of key legislators, reinforcing his image.

``It is keeping the myth alive,'' said Barbara O'Connor, director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and the Media at California State University, Sacramento. ``He really is a mythic figure in the classic sense and you can't be a mythic figure if the people don't revere you. Part of that is going out and being revered.

``He is so good at that. He takes the time, he talks to them. He's so Clinton-esque in a lot of ways and he thoroughly enjoys it.''

On election night last week, Schwarzenegger glowed in victory at the conclusion of the first phase of his term as governor and laid out his threat to take workers' compensation reform to the people, as well.

How meaningful that threat is has yet to be fully tested. He won by way of his personal popularity and, maybe more importantly, because he got prominent Democrats on board.

But can he do it again?

The Governator, Part II

Schwarzenegger faces a series of pending crises, not the least of which is trying to sign a 2004-05 state budget by the June 30 deadline that addresses a long-term structural budget deficit that exists despite passage of Propositions 57 and 58.

The state is plagued with escalating taxpayer-funded health care costs, a problematic prison system and a workers' compensation insurance system teetering on the brink of collapse.

And Schwarzenegger - most of whose proposed solutions are far more Republican than bipartisan - faces strong opposition from Democrats who control the Legislature and see much of what they stand for under siege.

``There are lots of tough choices ahead to deal with current problems and coming problems,'' said Martin Kaplan, associate dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communications.

FLASHBACK 

Mission Inn Hotel, Riverside, the recall campaign.

Schwarzenegger talks about his boyhood in Austria and credits a small incident for helping to shape his world view.

``I figured out that people always had to run from the lake all the way to the front to the restaurant and get ice cream. And so I decided one day at the age of 10 that I'm going to get a bucket, put it around my neck, put ice cream in there and sell it for a shilling.

``So I packed it up and went around and screamed, 'Ice cream, Ice cream, Ice cream!' And in no time I was sold out and went back again.''

Forty-six years later, Schwarzenegger is wealthy, having transformed himself into a championship bodybuilder, a top box-office Hollywood superstar, successful businessman, and husband to Kennedy-family scion Maria Shriver.

And now the governor, in a very real way, is still selling ice cream - only this time he's carrying the bucket not around his neck, but by way of the sheer force of his personality, promising to be the super-salesman who can bring everyone together and convince the world California is once again the land of promise.

``I would say it is unique because (his bipartisan approach) is succeeding in an environment where partisanship has increased and has been institutionalized,'' USC public policy professor Sherry Bebitch Jeffe said. ``He's managed to overcome that.''

FLASH FORWARD

By force of will and personality - and by freely making concessions on positions that he once seemed steadfast about - Schwarzenegger has managed to unite the more moderate leaders of both parties on several big issues.

By doing so, however, he has also alienated the more extreme wings of both parties, leaving the most liberal Democrats in Sacramento in an unofficial alliance of sorts with the most conservative Republicans.

It was only by compromising on his original fiscal recovery plan that Schwarzenegger was able to make it palatable enough for Democrats to place on the ballot. His path to bipartisanship by was forged by watering down a plan that he at first had pitched to Republicans as a ``never-again'' tough spending limit. Instead it became a far weaker balanced budget amendment - one that disappointed some fiscal conservatives enough that they are now circulating a new spending cap measure for the November ballot.

``He made sure it went beyond just him,'' said Mark Baldassare, director of research at the Public Policy Institute of California. ``Although he's clearly the person who will get the most credit for (Propositions) 57 and 58, I think even Gov. Schwarzenegger understood this victory would not be assured without the overwhelming support of Democrats.''

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and state Controller Steve Westly got aboard, and former Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg became a trusted insider and a believer.

``His expectations are gigantically high,'' Hertzberg said. ``He takes no excuses for anything. He likes the open debate. He likes the ideas, he listens very closely. If he wants something, he sees it instantaneously.''

``Once he makes a decision, he goes 'Boom, let's move.' He's got a real sense of the big picture, he's got a good sense of what sells. He's really intuitive.''

But liberal Democrats like Angelides and ultra-liberals like Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg and Sen. Sheila Kuehl are fierce and tough opponents.

The conservative right, advocates for the poor, advocates for health policy changes, campaign finance reformers who say he is a more prolific fund-raiser than Gray Davis - even the anti-tobacco lobby which finds his cigar smoking distasteful - are arrayed as potential enemies.

Still, he's gotten enough people in the middle on his side so far that he has been unstoppable.

Much of his ability has less to do with his ease on camera than his ability to personally charm and engage individual legislators.

``He really doesn't operate by normal rules,'' said O'Connor, the CSUS expert.

``He truly does not, and I think that is refreshing. He'll bound into somebody's office, invite them down for a cup of coffee. It's so atypical. It really does keep them off-balance.''

The Governator, Part III?

Will the budget battle over spending cuts and taxes expose the Governator's weakness? Will he save California or are his critics right in saying that he'll just make big problems worse?

Will there be sequels to the amazing story of the muscleman-superstar- politician - or is this the end?

David M. Drucker, [phone]

David.Drucker(at)dailybulletin.com

MIXED REVIEWS

Thumbs up:

``I think he's getting more comfortable with his role, with his job. I see him more engaged with members; I know he was very engaged with me back in December when we put the recovery plan on the ballot. So I think there have been some successes for all of us, the Republicans and Democrats alike. It's about making California a better place and that's what we want. I believe that's what the governor wants.''

- Former Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson, D-Los Angeles

``Everybody enjoys how down-to-earth he is. He's very approachable, a quick study, a good listener. I think his enormous popularity with Californians is something he can use to his advantage to get the tough decisions made so the state can move forward. ... It's a good give and take with the governor.''

- Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn 

``I think he had to hit the ground running and he has hit the ground running. We haven't agreed with everything he's done. But he again has taken some bold action on some very big fronts and he's to be commended for that.''

- Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles

``He's got a real easy style about him that makes people feel comfortable. He's very gracious, always willing to give credit.''

- Former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg, a Democrat

Thumbs down:

``I don't think success should be measured by the number of cigars handed out on the Capitol patio. It ought to be measured by is this a fair budget, does it build our economy? On each of those scores, the governor has failed.''

- State Treasurer Phil Angelides, Democrat.

``Gov. Schwarzenegger based his gubernatorial campaign on a pledge to change politics as usual in California. (He sensed) a populist discontent with politics as usual and a perception that Sacramento was controlled by special-interest money. ``In fact what's been happening is Schwarzenegger has been fund raising even faster than Gov. Gray Davis, the person who wrote the book on cash-register politics.''

- Jerry Flanagan, consumer advocate, Foundation for Consumer and Taxpayer Rights

``He has not brought state spending under control and the notion that we can somehow borrow our way out of this problem is a serious mistake.''

- State Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks

``He is glamorizing cigar smoking and smoking in general by what he's doing. Cigars are addictive and deadly, too, and he's sending the wrong message to kids.''

- Laurie Comstock, an anti-smoking activist from Elk Grove, Calif.

ARNOLD'S ABOUT-FACES

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has reversed course or taken ambivalent positions on several major issues since being sworn in Nov. 17. Critics call them flip-flops, but his supporters say they show he is flexible and willing to admit mistakes.

Disabled funding: His initial budget plan cut more than $274 million from services for the disabled. He changed his mind after hearing complaints from advocates for the disabled - including members of his wife's family, who founded the Special Olympics.

Gay marriage: He said he supports civil unions but not gay marriage, and opposes San Francisco's granting of marriage licenses to same-sex couples. But he later told NBC's Jay Leno that if the people of California change the law, ``that's fine with me.''

Campaign finance: When he launched his campaign during the recall, he said he wouldn't have to take money from anyone and criticized Gov. Gray Davis for his fund raising. Later he modified his stance and raised millions of dollars in the recall campaign and for his ballot measures.

Groping inquiry: After women said Schwarzenegger harassed or groped them, he said he would investigate the charges. Later he dismissed the claims as ``old news'' and decided not to pursue an investigation.

Local funding: He told cities and counties they would not lose revenue after he reduced the car tax. He cut the tax and found replacement funds but later proposed cutting other revenue, taking $1 billion away from local governments.

Spending limit: He called for a hard cap on state spending tied to inflation and population growth. Democratic lawmakers blocked that plan so he watered it down to a less-stringent balanced-budget amendment.

- Harrison Sheppard

CAPTION(S):

photo, 2 boxes

Photo:

no caption (Governor Arnold Shwarzenegger)

Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press

Box:

(1) MIXED REVIEWS (see text)

(2) ARNOLD'S ABOUT-FACES (see text)