Gibson Cast As Lethal Weapon to Terminate Schwarzenegger

To coin one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's best-known and over-used lines: "Hasta la vista, baby." Republican party activists in California are so disenchanted with the governor that they have decided they want to trade him in for a more reliable Hollywood model: Mel Gibson.

"We have to look for alternatives to the governor because for the last few weeks he's been behaving like someone who wants to go back to Hollywood," said Mike Spence, the president of the California Republican Assembly.

Mr Spence has launched a website, Melgibsonforgovernor.com, and an online petition to persuade Gibson to stand for governor of the richest state in the US in next year's election.

The website points to Gibson's political credentials from the success of The Passion of the Christ to his comments on the stem cell research and case of Terri Schiavo, the brain damaged woman who died in March.

"He's shown himself to be both fiscally and socially conservative," said Mr Spence, "and the success of The Passion of the Christ shows that he has the ability to reach out to people".

Mr Schwarzenegger had appeared to be immune to the normal vagaries of political fortune, but then his poll ratings plummeted. Last month a special election he had heavily promoted backfired when none of the measures on the ballot were passed. This week he delivered another shock to his Republican base by appointing a Democrat and a Kennedy to boot as his chief of staff.

"In public relations terms it's a disaster," said Democratic party official Bob Mulholland. "Not only are the Republicans disappointed with him losing all the ballot propositions but they think he's throwing the Republicans over the side."

While Mr Schwarzenegger has said he intends to stand for re-election next year, there are known to be two lucrative Hollywood offers awaiting him: Terminator 4 and a sequel to True Lies.

There is, however, only one problem with the move to draft Gibson to stand for governor: nobody has asked him. Gibson's office refused to comment on the website yesterday, adding that he had never expressed an interest in standing for political office. Mr Spence said his organisation, part of the Republican party, was trying to get an audience with the actor."We hope to meet with him and encourage him," he said.

Should they succeed, it raises the bizarre prospect of Californian voters being faced with a choice between Warren Beatty and Mel Gibson for governor.