02.14.04.
Why I like Arnold
SM/DVMX

Some of my friends still call him the Gropenfuehrer. But I like him. For one thing, Arnold has it made. The last thing he needs is to be a governor. And I do believe he's doing it to make a positive difference. I also like his wife, Maria Schriver, a Kennedy, and a Democrat. (Watch the quicktime videos of her talking about Arnold at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco just before the election: part one, two, three, four, five, six.)

But he's a ... Republican, you say...
Well follow me here for a moment. Here's my worst nightmare: in November, despite the polls, Bush somehow gets a majority. There are questions about the vote, but no recount is possible, it was all electronic. What's more Democrats are swept from the House and Senate in an avalanche of election upsets, again no recounts possible. The Republicans succeed in making America a one party government. The election disputes are obscured by a wave of war and terror. Fox moves on... Frist is King of the Senate, and DeLay King of the House, and Bush rules the roost.

What hope would progressives have then? No matter how disastrous the Bush policies for America and it's economy, their grip on power might be unrecallable. No, the only chance, in this direst of scenarios, would be a movement inside the Republican Party to unseat the Bush-Cheney Cabal, and restore an honest and competent leadership to the Grand Old Party. What Republican could possibly lead a popular movement to retire Bush-Cheney-Frist-DeLay gang from the Republican leadership? Only one man- Arnold.

So I hope he does well in California. I hope the democrats work with him to solve the state's problems. I hope, in 4 years he's an even bigger hero.
SM/DVmx

Here's what RFK 2 says about Arnold, in a recent interview:

Do you think Schwarzenegger, knowing him as you do, will prove to be the governor who cozied up with Ken Lay of Enron or, as he claims he will, the governor of the people?

I think Arnold will be good for California. I think that having a Republican in office is always a bad thing, because you're bringing in the people who got you elected -- the Chemical Manufacturers Association, the Farm Bureau, the American Petroleum Institute, and all of these kind of bad characters, the pirates of the American economy. But I think Arnold will be good. He said to me last summer, during an August weekend on Cape Cod, that he wanted to make the environment one of his key issues, that he was going to be the greatest environmental governor in the history of California. And he asked me then to help him put together a team. I didn't endorse him because I had a close relationship with Governor Gray Davis and Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, who had done decent things on the environment. But I helped Arnold put together an environmental policy, which Arnold read and then adopted. And it's probably stronger than Gore's policy. It's certainly stronger than anybody else who was running for California governor, with the exception of the Green Party candidate.

I'll be able to answer this question better in a little while, when Arnold will announce the new chief of California's Environmental Protection Agency. I encouraged Arnold to name a very strong conservationist, Terry Tamminen, who is the Santa Monica Baykeeper, to the post. And it looks like he's going to do it. And there's never been anyone with those kind of environmental credentials in that position. [Last week Schwarzenegger did indeed name Tamminen as his new environmental secretary.]

I know he was urged by very strong Republicans not to appoint Terry. I have a friend who was in the room with him when Arnold received a call from a Republican whom he's very fond of and who's in his inner circle [he was later identified in press reports as Schwarzenegger's powerful transition chief, California Rep. David Dreier], and he said to Arnold, "You cannot appoint Terry Tammimen." And Arnold said to him, "I deeply appreciate the work you did on my campaign and I value your advice, but I'm the governor and I'm going to appoint who I want." That made me extremely encouraged and proud.

Arnold still has one environmental flaw, his love of Hummers -- have you talked to him about that?

(Laughs) Yeah, extensively. He understands the issue and he's converting one of his Hummers to hydrogen. And he also understands that he needs to exert his influence on Detroit. And he supports the California fuel efficiency bill, which will make it the most progressive state in the country.
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Meanwhile, TheHill reports: Terminator versus 'B-1 Bob' Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.) will continue to reward friends and court party rivals using his star power. He just helped Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) bring in more than $300,000 at a $1,000-per-head fundraiser in Huntington Beach Ñ a war chest that Rohrabacher will use to try to foil former Rep. 'Rabid' Bob Dornan's (R) hope for a comeback in the primary.
-Is this outpouring of support for Dana a result of the fact that Dana is loved?, Rohrabacher wondered, -or that Dornan is despised? We just don't know. It may be a combination of the two. Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger is continuing to burnish his credentials with Capitol Hill Democrats. When Senate office buildings were closed after ricin was discovered in Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's (R-Tenn.) office, the governor allowed staff for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to work out of the governor's Washington office space.
-TheHill.com

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