Mr. Schwarzenegger is a Republican, even if he runs like a

[Subdivisions]

Democrat.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/20/us/politics/20centrists.html?hp&ex=1158811200&en=29c461c13294d41a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

-snip-

Mr. Schwarzenegger, who six months ago fashioned himself a Republican reformer bent on hobbling entrenched Democratic institutions, is not just tolerating positions generally associated with liberal candidates. Rather, he is using them as the centerpiece of his re-election campaign, marking the first time in a generation that a Republican governor here has clung to the left during a re-election fight.

The strategy is not unique to Mr. Schwarzenegger’s campaign. Across the nation’s 36 races for governor, Republican candidates in states heavy with moderate or Democratic voters are playing up their liberal positions on issues including stem cell research, abortion and the environment, while remaining true to their party’s platform on taxes and streamlining government.

In Massachusetts, Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, who is seeking to fill the seat that will be vacated by Gov. Mitt Romney, has openly split with Mr. Romney on abortion rights and stem cell research; her views are shared by the Republican candidate for governor in Illinois, Judy Baar Topinka, who also supports civil unions for same-sex couples.

In Maryland, the Republican incumbent, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., is pushing for increasing state aid for programs for the disabled and imposing tighter restrictions on coal-fired plants; the Republican governor of Hawaii, Linda Lingle, opposes the death penalty. In Connecticut, Gov. M. Jodi Rell also parts ways with the Republican Party on civil unions and financing for stem cell research.

-snip-

Democratic candidates across the country have responded by constantly reminding voters of their opponents’ conservative leanings, wherever they exist, and trying to tie them as much as possible to the White House.

-snip-

The Democrat who wants to unseat the governor, Phil Angelides, has spent the better part of the last few months trying to remind voters that Mr. Schwarzenegger is a Republican through and through, who supported the war in Iraq, the president who ordered it and many right-of-center policies.

“Two months of pretending to be a Democrat doesn’t make him a Democrat,” said Amanda Crumley, the communications director for the Angelides campaign, with a certain amount of fury in her voice. “Just like he has done for the last three years, if he is re-elected, which he won’t be, he will continue to govern like the Bush Republican that he is.”

The rest of the article is very interesting. If they can't beat us, they join us long enough to supplement their voting machine tallies with the votes of those moderates that were sitting on the fence and/or perhaps leaning a little to the right.

[Demobrat]

1. She's right.

“Just like he has done for the last three years, if he is re-elected, which he won’t be, he will continue to govern like the Bush Republican that he is.”

And not only that, he'll laugh and call us fools for falling for his act. And he'll be right.

[MzNov]

2. Of course he is. and why are CA voters forgetting what he tried

to do to the Nurses, Teachers, other union workers, just a year or two ago??? The Gropenater is one slimy sleazy actor who is now trying to fool the public with democratic-like support one day, then bush neo-con tricks the next. Where is Boxer, Feinstein, the big boys from D.C.? and why is he allowed to be lying cheater, a million times worse than Clinton, with a history of making porn movie? And what about his role with Bush and Ken Lay/Enron to get Gray Davis recalled, just because Bush wanted CA???? Gawd people, wake the fuck up.

:dem:

[Phredicles]

3. We just have exceptionally short memories here.

But yeah, it sucks. Especially since I'm confident that, once he's re-elected, he'll revert to his Blustermeister act - it's what he's comfortable with.

I hope the Angelides campaign continues to hammer this Many Moods of Ahhnold theme in addition to running those ads of Ahhnold talking with Smirk Boy in the background - I think it's their/our best chance.