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Spotlight on Schwarzenegger

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

The Republican gubernatorial candidate, Arnold Schwarzenegger, displays a broom, saying he will use it to "clean up California politics" during a rally at the State Capitol on Sunday.

Washington Oct. 6. On the eve of the Governor re-call election vote in the State of California, the atmosphere there reflects more one of a referendum on the past life of the Hollywood actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, than a special election focussing on the shortcomings of Gray Davis, the present incumbent in the statehouse.

For his part, Mr. Davis is using the latest attention on Mr. Schwarzenegger to ask the question if the Republican candidate is fit to occupy the Governor's mansion.

What has happened in the last three weeks is that from the spotlight on Mr. Davis, the attention has turned to that of the Hollywood star — his past behaviour towards women and statements on Adolf Hitler.

The main Republican candidate has not lost time hitting back at critics and accusing the Democrats of indulging in "campaign trickery", stressing that the so-called praise for Adolf Hitler has not been properly portrayed. "Many of those things are not true... I despise anything and everything that Hitler stands for", the Hollywood star-turned-politician argued.

But Mr. Davis who is supposedly encouraged by an internal polling that support for the recall is slipping is unwilling to get away from the allegations against Mr. Schwarzenegger especially that the star had groped several women as late as 2000.

"The question gets down to this: Are 15 women and their families lying or is Mr. Schwarzenegger not telling the truth", Mr. Davis asked at a campaign rally.

On Tuesday, Californians will take on a two-part ballot, first whether they want to oust Mr. Davis at all.

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