Arnold Schwarzenegger's refusal to participate in Wednesday's gubernatorial debate fits his pattern of shunning traditional campaign venues in favor of carefully scripted appearances he can control.
His advisors paint it as a strategic move that capitalizes on his star power rather than a decision to avoid situations that could expose him to risk. "He has the capacity to talk directly to voters and not have to filter his message," said Schwarzenegger's strategist, Mike Murphy.
"When he speaks, it goes live on cable news," said another advisor. "Talk radio goes directly, unfiltered, to the public.''
But the Walnut Creek debate Wednesday offered a prime forum to broadcast his views unfiltered. The only debate he has agreed to attend is the one sponsored by a broadcasters group that promised to give candidates the questions in advance.
With less than five weeks until the election -- and now just four days before voting by absentee ballot begins -- the Republican actor has subjected himself to far less give-and-take than his rivals. As a result, he has not been forced to offer many specifics on how he would run a state beset by financial crisis and political gridlock.
His star status allows him to command international media attention, and the actor has continued to rely on techniques more common in Hollywood than Sacramento.
"He jumps into the crowd, shakes a few hands, poses for pictures, and he's off to the next stop," said political scientist Larry Gerston, a San Jose State professor, "almost as if the publicity agent shouts, 'Cut!' "
Tuesday offered another example: The Schwarzenegger campaign invited four TV stations to the Fairmont Hotel in Santa Monica and then conducted round-robin interviews in a session that one participant described as a classic movie junket. Schwarzenegger shuttled between two meeting rooms with a white backdrop emblazoned with the campaign logo, allotting each reporter 10 minutes before moving on to the next.
KABC-TV Channel 7 political reporter John Gregory said Schwarzenegger opened the interview by praising ABC reporter John North, much as he had lauded the hosts on the "John & Ken" radio show earlier in the day. "He's trying to soften up the reporters. He's used to schmoozing people up -- it's a big part of it, the entertainment culture in Hollywood," Gregory said.
