Gov. Arnold to the rescue! He's Ohio-bound to help John McCain
Arnold Schwarzenegger has many ties to Columbus, Ohio.
That’s the locale of the Arnold Classic, the body-building competition that is televised across Ohio. He owns a shopping mall there, too.
It’s also a place where he does some serious Republican politicking. He told reporters today he intends to head to Columbus toward the “end of next week” to help his buddy, John McCain.
Columbus “is the city where I traditionally always go and campaign, like the weekend before the election. I have done this in 1988 and in 1992 and so on. So I will be going there for one event to Columbus, Ohio.”
Schwarzenegger neglected to recollect that one “so on” took place in 2004, when he stumped for George W. Bush in Columbus.
The governor’s celebrity helped give Bush an added boost in the state that the president narrowly won. Ohio, it is said, determined the outcome of the 2004 election and remains a swing state this year.
In fact, Republicans have not won the presidency without Ohio since 1916.
Schwarzenegger paid a price for that 2004 effort. When he ran for reelection in 2006, Democratic challenger Phil Angelides aired a particularly tough commercial reminding voters that Schwarzenegger helped Bush.
Colleague George Skelton described the ad like this: Schwarzenegger is standing at the podium, finger pointing in the air, leading the chant: "Reelect George W. Bush." Behind him is the smirking president. A narrator intones: "130,000 American troops remain in Iraq ... gasoline prices are up ... Arnold Schwarzenegger's for George W. Bush. Is he for you?"
No word on whether First Lady Maria Shriver, one of Barack Obama's more prominent backers, will be accompanying the governor.
-- Dan Morain
To have instant alerts of all new Ticket items flashed to your cellphone, go here and register free.
Photo credit: Associated Press
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 
Subscribe to this Blog
"Schwarznegger paid a price for that 2004 effort. When he ran for reelection in 2006, Democratic challenger Phil Angelides aired a particularly tough commercial reminding voters that Schwarzenegger helped Bush."
Well, Angelides isn't governor is he?
Posted by: keith | October 20, 2008 at 08:47 PM
I guess we should all be thankful that Arnold is going tp Columbus to help McCain. Maybe he should have been campaigning up and down California for McCain and Palin.
Letting the people in California know that they will be the ones who will spreading the wealth. It seems they have the highest number of people who make over $250,000 I am sure they are happy to spread their money around.
VJ Machiavelli
http://www.vjmachiavelli.blogspot.com
Posted by: VJ Machiavelli | October 20, 2008 at 09:01 PM
With his emasculated girlie man liberal stance as of late, Arnie will be lucky he doesn't get booed in an actual conservative enclave.
Arnie entered stage right like a conservative lion in thundering boots, but like a timid mouse, he has slinked off to silently exit stage left in silken slippers. Methinks Maria has his cajones ensconced atop a bed post in her boudoir only to be utilized at her discretion.
Never argue with an Obama fool, they will lower you down to their gutter level and beat you with community Organizer experience
Posted by: Trannny | October 20, 2008 at 10:30 PM
Yes! McCain/Palin '08!
Posted by: John K. | October 20, 2008 at 10:40 PM
While he's there, maybe he can sell some bonds or borrow some money for California.
Posted by: unomas | October 20, 2008 at 10:44 PM
The California's economy is in the toilet so I am really glad to see our Governor is taking time off to campaign for McCain. Republician first. California second.
Posted by: Susan | October 20, 2008 at 10:45 PM
yes' OBAMA/BIDEN '08
Posted by: Bob | October 21, 2008 at 02:44 AM
You know your campaign is in trouble when you haul out a governor with a 32% approval rating to help your fledging campaign - and, that governor is a celebrity - and you ran an ad mocking the nature of celebrity. then again, joe the plumber is also a celebrity. can his campaign get any goofier?
Posted by: Dave | October 31, 2008 at 07:54 PM