Schwarzenegger brings the heat
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gets back in front of the camera (OK, as a politician he never really left, but still) as part of a new ad campaign geared toward pressuring recalcitrant members of Congress to move swiftly on legislation to lessen global warming.
The ad, to begin airing next week in 17 markets, was put together by Environmental Defense and features Schwarzenegger, Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana, a Democrat, and Jon Huntsman Jr., the Republican governor of Utah. All notably are governors of Western states with wide areas of stunning natural beauty -- and the tourism-based economy that goes with it.
Schwarzenegger has been pressing the federal government on global warming, but also has his own well-heeled baggage on the issue. Frustrated with what they view as a lack of federal leadership on the issue, Schweitzer and Huntsman also have struck out on their own.
The reason for the ad campaign now? Environmental Defense wants to make sure the issue gets its due during the current election cycle. And with Al Gore still not running for president, the political dialogue has revolved primarily around the war in Iraq and healthcare. Place your bets on how much attention the issue gets in tonight's Democratic debate in Las Vegas on CNN at 5 Pacific time.
-- Scott Martelle
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Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000. A veteran foreign and national correspondent, Malcolm served on the Times Editorial Board and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2004. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.
Johanna Neuman is a veteran Washington correspondent for both The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, having covered presidents and politics as far back as Ronald Reagan. A former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., she authored a book on media and foreign policy, “Lights, Camera, Wars.” Most recently she was co-author of the 
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