COLUMBUS, Ohio — Fresh from a big victory in his campaign for Propositions 57 and 58, his political fortunes at a peak, the governor of California will spend this weekend celebrating. In Ohio. "I love it there," he says. "It's like a second home."
Californians may not know it, but their governor does not belong just to them. For more than 30 years, Arnold Schwarzenegger has cultivated personal and business ties to, of all places, Columbus.
On Friday, the governor will fly to the city, as he has for the last 16 years, to preside over a massive three-day convention now known as the Arnold Fitness Weekend.
It brings 80,000 people to this town of 711,000. More than 11,000 are athletes, topping the number of competitors at the Summer Olympics.
Events include the Arnold Strongest Man Contest, the Arnold Olympic Weightlifting Championships, the Arnold Classic Arm Wrestling Challenge, the Arnold Gymnastics Challenge, the Arnold Martial Arts World Games, the Arnold Cheerleading and Dance Team National Championships, and the Arnold 5K Pump and Run.
The centerpiece is a bodybuilding tournament called the Arnold Classic. Posters advertising the weekend show California's governor in a black sleeveless shirt, his arm muscles bulging, with the slogan "More than before in 2004."
"The Arnold," as some locals call the weekend, is not Schwarzenegger's only tie to Ohio's largest city. For a governor who sees his role as selling California, his work in Columbus provides an example of how he markets a place.
Over the decades, the governor has quietly made Columbus a laboratory of Schwarzeneggerian synergy.
He owns a share in one of the region's largest malls, the Easton Town Center. He tracked down the tank he drove in the Austrian army and loaned it to a nearby military museum, instantly creating a tourist attraction. He established a beachhead for his major charity effort, the After School All-Stars, and has served as grand marshal for the Columbus Day Parade.
Columbus even played a role in Schwarzenegger's introduction to politics. It was here, in 1988, that the governor was first introduced to then-Vice President George H.W. Bush, who later appointed Schwarzenegger chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.
That fueled his interest in politics. And in an echo of his emphasis on bipartisanship in California politics, the Republican Schwarzenegger long ago built a close relationship with this city's Democratic leadership.
