The Austrian bodybuilder and the grandson of Greek immigrants are self-made men, millionaires both, the embodiment of the ambitions of most who venture here. But as they seek the governorship, the personalities and experiences of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Phil Angelides have led them to far different views about the appropriate role of government in Californians' lives.
Schwarzenegger tells the story of his arrival in America as if he were Horatio Alger -- a solitary man who found unrivaled success on his own, even if his way was, in reality, smoothed by the generosity of friends.
"When I came to California with absolutely nothing, I only had a dream and a gym bag in my hand and $20. That's all I had. And because of California, I could make a successful life," the Republican governor told a crowd in San Diego not long ago.
Angelides' story may lack the immediate drama of Schwarzenegger's, but in three generations here the struggles of his family and the salvation they found in hard times forged a lasting view of government as protector.
"It isn't a matter of whether you are willing to work hard enough; it's whether you get breaks along the way," Angelides, a Democrat, recalls being told by his father.
If they represent the orthodoxy of their political parties, it is true that Angelides and Schwarzenegger also echo the contradictions many Americans hold about chasing the American dream.
Heather Johnson, a sociology professor at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, said that in her research with hundreds of families, Americans have shown a remarkable ability to hold two contradictory thoughts: They revere the notion of individual success, but recognize that even the most capable may need help along the way.
"The Republicans are playing to one side of it and the Democrats are playing to the other, but they are going to capture a very large audience either way," said Johnson, author of "The American Dream and the Power of Wealth," which examines 200 families of all income groups. "What is so fascinating is we all believe in both arguments even if they are in conflict with one another."
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Schwarzenegger came to America in 1968, a turbulent year of assassinations and civil unrest. He worked his way through community colleges and night classes, and embraced the Republican Party after watching the campaign between Richard M. Nixon and Hubert H. Humphrey.
