I would respectfully suggest that it doesn't matter that Ah-Nold has no influence over conservative Republicans. I diubt very seriesly that conservative Republicans will do anything other than strongly support Bush-Cheney and defeat Kerry and the 'Rats.
What DOES matter is that Ah-Nold can help bring in voters for Bush-Cheney that aren't conservative Republicans.
It is critical to win, but we need to give Dubya a mandate and also add more Senators. Ah-Nold will cause many people to watch the convention and will be able to make it easier for many fence-sitters to vote R instead of D. I also very strongly believe that he will "pump up" the convention and the delegates.
He should be Keynote Speaker.
The domestic battleground in the next four years will center on the Courts, especially SCOTUS. Dubya must win, or we're screwed. We also need more Senators, or we can't break the filibusters. Ah-Nold, McCain, Giuliani, Zell Miller, Ed Koch, even Joe Lieberman -- I want to try and get everyone we can to back Dubya and win in November. We can't afford to have Kerry losing the War on Terror and nominating kangaroos to SCOTUS. WE MUST WIN!!
That is the wrong move and would lose Bush-Cheney more votes then they'd gain. Gov Rino's appeal is to liberals, centrists and some moderates. But he doesn't advance the conservative agenda one iota. The conservative agenda is at the core of the GOP party platform.