Why His 'Sequel' Failed to Captivate

Worse for Schwarzenegger, the special election he called to cement his power may have diminished it instead. The three measures he brought to the ballot -- Propositions 74, 76 and 77 -- were rejected. A fourth measure that he vigorously endorsed, Proposition 75, was trailing with 86% of the vote counted.

Schwarzenegger staged a campaign intended to capitalize on his once-robust box-office appeal. He largely shunned unscripted encounters with voters and face-to-face debates with political opponents, sticking instead to friendly exchanges in venues packed with admiring supporters.

His campaign echoed the strategy he employed in the 2003 recall campaign, when the product he was selling was "Arnold," the outsider determined to "clean up" Sacramento with the same wit and resolve he showed in his movies.

But in the special election, he was pitching a complicated package of ballot initiatives. He wasn't asking voters so much to "join Arnold" -- his inclusive recall message -- as to choose sides. And in California, his side -- the Republican side -- is greatly outnumbered by Democrats and political independents.

Schwarzenegger cast the debate in stark terms. He was a bold force for progress; the teachers, firefighters and nurses arrayed against him were selfish "special interests" defending a sclerotic political culture.

He employed a vocabulary straight from Hollywood. He referred to the election as "Judgment Day" -- the name of one of his "Terminator" movies. He cast Tuesday's vote as the "sequel" to the 2003 recall. He constantly reminded voters they had once paid money to see him in the theaters -- even when that allusion was a reach. He ended his rallies with his cinematic signature: "I'll be back."

Inside Schwarzenegger's circle and out, Republicans said he should have found a more serious way to speak to voters.

The problem, however, was that Schwarzenegger never seemed to make the transition from celebrity to chief executive. The obvious comparison is to another actor-turned-California governor, Ronald Reagan.

Ken Khachigian, a longtime Republican strategist who was a speechwriter in the Reagan White House, said of Schwarzenegger's rhetorical habits: "It was like, 'OK, we've heard that stuff.' This is different now. This is policy and substance, and the speeches should have used a little different rhetoric."