Tongue-tied Arnie Takes Hits From Left and Right

Hasta la vista to the political honeymoon. Four days after after his gubernatorial campaign in California opened to better reviews than any of his films ever did, Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday came face to face with political reality when he was attacked from the left for being too naive and from the right for being too liberal.

The 56-year-old actor embarked on a quick-fire round of TV interviews aimed at capitalising on his already stratospheric ratings in the campaign to take the most powerful office in the nation's biggest state - Governor of California.

But instead of momentum the appearances produced a succession of awkward moments as he was asked to explain his political views.

Pressed on a range of issue that are certain to feature prominently in the run-up to the vote on 7 October - gay marriage, health services, the fiscal crisis facing California - Schwarzenegger was forced to deny a policy statement attributed to his staff or revert to the time-honoured formula of the candidate under pressure: 'I don't want to go into that right now.'

Asked by one interviewer if he would publish his tax returns - as is expected of any candidate for public office - Schwarzenegger suddenly discovered his earpiece was not working and said he did not hear the question.

'Pretending he can't hear the questions might work in Hollywood, but it doesn't cut it for the voters of California,' said a spokesman for the Democratic Party, who urged the media to scrutinise Schwarzenegger's political record more closely.

The media took his advice and within a couple of hours turned up the embarrassing allegation that the actor had voted in only two of the last eight statewide elections.

Attacks from the opposite side of the political divide are to be expected but more surprising, and more damaging to his hopes of becoming, in the words of his supporters, 'the new Ronald Reagan', is the lukewarm reception his entrance into the race has received in some Republican circles.

'All these Republican orgasms over Arnold Schwarzenegger are fake,' declared Rush Limbaugh, the popular political radio talk-show host and the spiritual leader of America's right-wing. 'In his own words he [Schwarzenegger] has proved he is not a conservative. To the extent that he said anything, he has sounded not like a fiscal conservative but a moderate Democrat.

'He has told the press he is "very liberal" about social programmes, supports abortion and homosexual adoption, and advocates gun controls. And he expressed disgust with the Republicans who impeached Clinton. Does this sound like the next Reagan, as some people are calling Arnold? Hardly. This guy may be the next actor elected Governor of California, but that's where the similarity between him and Ronald Reagan ends.'

Schwarzenegger's hope of a smooth passage to the governor's chair received a further blow with the news that another prominent party figure, Bill Simon, who narrowly failed to unseat the incumbent Democrat Gray Davis last November, will also contest October's election.

Davis faces being voted out of office under an obscure clause in California's electoral law that allows officials to be 'recalled' if enough voters sign a petition accusing them of an 'egregious' act. With California facing a $38 billion (£23.5bn) deficit, more than 1.3 million voters signed such a petition - thus triggering an election. So far more than 500 candidates, most of them frivolous, have declared they will run.

With vast amounts of money at their disposal, political campaigns in California are notoriously dirty, with the private lives of candidates being trawled through for embarrassing revelations. It is thought that Schwarzenegger could be vulnerable to such attacks. Indeed, he admitted as much during one interview, conceding that his opponents would try to label him as a 'womaniser'. He is married to Maria Schriver, a member of the Kennedy clan and a high-profile TV journalist who this weekend announced she would take leave from her presenting post on the NBC network to back her husband's campaign.

The polls suggest the actor's name recognition will carry him to victory but most observers believe the gap will narrow as voters begin to focus on policy.

One bright spot was the news that President Bush - until now noticeably silent on Arnie's candidacy - had expressed confidence that he would make a 'good governor' if elected, although the President's confidence did not extend to committing to campaign on Schwarzenegger's behalf.