“I’ll be back,” he had famously said. The sequel star has done it in politics too. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has won re-election by a landslide on Tuesday after distancing himself from fellow Republican President George W. Bush and taking a moderate stance.
"What a fantastic evening; I love doing sequels," Schwarzenegger told supporters in Beverly Hills. "But this without any doubt is my favorite sequel."
The star of the "Terminator" films scrapped a confrontational style that served him well as a champion bodybuilder and in movies but led to a complete defeat in a special initiative election last year.
A humbled Schwarzenegger, 59, turned on his charm, no longer taunted Democratic legislators as "girlie men" and backed a series of bipartisan laws, including reducing the state`s greenhouse gas emissions.
Schwarzenegger also distanced himself from Bush, avoiding him during recent California visits and criticizing the White House on issues such as global warming.
Schwarzenegger admitted his mistakes and changed course. Aided by a rolling state economy, his campaign won back Democratic and independent support by blending Reaganesque optimism with a return to the middle-ground politics that helped propel him to office amid the historic recall of Gov. Gray Davis in 2003.
"Schwarzenegger was successful in embracing a more moderate agenda that affected people`s lives in a positive way," former Gov. Gray Davis, whom Schwarzenegger ousted three years ago, told a news agency. "The Republicans in Washington tuned out that agenda and are paying the price for that tonight."
The moderate approach worked in a state where 42 percent of the 15.8 million registered voters are Democrats, compared to 34 percent Republicans. It also worked at home, where the Austrian-born politician is married to Democrat Maria Shriver, niece of former Democratic President John F. Kennedy.
Angelides, a liberal Democrat and former real estate developer, struggled throughout the campaign and even the state`s leading liberal newspapers backed his opponent.
Schwarzenegger dedicated much of his campaigning not to countering Angelides but to rallying support for more than USD 37 billion in bonds to fund infrastructure including roads, housing and schools.
Bureau Report
