He'll Be Back....

Ah-nuld is going to run again:

The announcement came at the end of a public forum here, after a carefully screened crowd questioned him about his efforts to revamp California's schools and its budget process. No one, however, asked him about his plans for next year, when his term expires, even though his appearance had been heavily promoted as the place for announcing his re-election bid. So he asked himself if he would run.

"Of course, I'm going to finish the job," he said. "I'm a follow-through guy."

"I'm not in there for three years," Mr. Schwarzenegger added. "I'm in there for seven years. Yes, I will run again." The crowd inside the auditorium applauded, as protesters outside chanted, "Hey hey, ho ho, Schwarzenegger's got to go."

What an original chant, eh? No "terminate the Terminator"; no "He needs a vacation"; no "California has a tumah - cut it out in 2006". Talk about an old playbook.

Here is why, whatever his poll numbers supposedly show right now, Ah-nuld is a shoo-in for re-election as Governor of Gollyfornia:

Ah, Ah-nuld. Ah-nuld is the GOP’s secret weapon. Ah-nuld blows away the rest of Hollywood combined. Ah-nuld has everything – the aura of youth at age 57, virility, charisma, charm, success, a fabulous background story that was the core and strength of his address, and the fact that he is a winner, so much so that he lends the entire party that same image. The Democrats have no answer for him, and even if they did, their, well, “girly-man”-ism would diminish him down to like the Bane character at the end of Batman and Robin.

I wrote this a year ago after his tremendous GOP convention speech. It's all still true today. Who can the Democrats possibly run against the Governator? Dianne Feinstein? She's already said no. State treasurer Phil Angelides or state controller Steve Westly? Who the hell are they? Hollywoodies from the extreme Left (e.g. Warren Beatty or Rob "Meathead" Reiner, as the New York Times helpfully suggests)? As Ed Morrissey points out, they'd never take the center away from Ah-nuld, much less make any inroads on the right, and neither could match his populist charisma anyway, a factor that got re-energized with his veto of the California legislature's attempt to shove sodomarriage, er, down the throats of the 60+% of the populace that voted to deny such a debasing societal endorsement not even five years ago.

"Arnold made himself the people's representative, restraining an imperial Legislature that has far too easy of a time maintaining a Democratic deathgrip on state politics. That allows Schwarzenegger to run not only as a counterbalance, but as a reformer with more work to do," the Cap'n writes.

The Democrats might have considered the possible consequences of overreaching in an effort to rub the Terminator's nose in the muck in which they thought they had him sinking for the third time. That attempted imposition of rump ranger matrimony is going to cost them another four years locked out of the governor's mansion - and perhaps even add some Republican coattails as well.