Wrong. Schwarzenegger was villified for being so gullible and naive to think that his star power and willingness to compromise on loads of key issues would curry him any favor in the Democrat's camp. That wasn't a plan; it was assisted suicide.
Let's face it, California is becoming much like Sweden or Canada. These are countries where so many people now depend on the state that it would be nearly impossible to reform them. Leftists win most elections in those places. Occasionally, the left pushes a little too far and there's a backlash against them that lasts exactly one election cycle. A "moderate" member of the opposition party gets to hold office for a term, during which not much happens. Then, the lefties get back in for another 18 or 20 years, during which they drive the nation further to the left, including enactment of the proposal that initially triggered the backlash against them.
Combine the socialism with exotic sexuality issues (as in Brave New World, where the rampant sexual immorality made people think they were "free" even as government expanded its control of them) and the state grows ever more powerful. You end up with a place where the voters endorse powerful government while simultaneously thinking they're "liberated" since teens can get abortions without parental notification.
"Red" Davis pushed California too far, and there was a backlash against him that lasted all of a few weeks, which was enough for a moderate Republican with star power to win a single election. But in retrospect Arnold was as doomed as the Swedish "conservatives" who briefly took power in the 80's after the Socialists pushed a little too far, too fast.