Free Republic

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger met with more than a dozen top business officials to discuss climate change -- executives who have gathered in support of mandatory limits on greenhouse-gas emissions. Imagine that: Big Business stepping up to the plate, but the Bush administration refusing to take a seat at the table. That's a conspicuous absence for a president who says that climate change "is a challenge that requires a 100-percent effort; ours and the rest of the world's." But it's not surprising for a president whose preferred policy is to rewrite science to protect...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, just one day after praising Sacramento politicians for trying to negotiate a deal on his reform agenda, took a combative tone Friday and insisted that the Nov. 8 special election "is not a referendum on me'' but on the state's lawmakers "who created the problems in California.'' The California governor, at an appearance at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, vowed to pass his self-styled reform agenda of shortened teacher tenure, a budget cap and a new political redistricting plan "no matter how many unions or special interests get in my way.'' But the governor's critics have a different...

<p>Determined to get his "fiscal recovery" plan through the Legislature by Friday's deadline, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will spend next week barnstorming the state and applying pressure to targeted lawmakers he thinks may be persuaded to come to his aid.</p> <p>Using talk radio and campaign-style public events, the governor and his aides have carefully selected venues where they believe he can sway potentially sympathetic legislators by appealing directly to their constituents.</p>

Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger beats Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante in the Oct. 7 election to replace Gov. Gray Davis, according to results of a Stanford University online survey of California voters. The Stanford poll, taken Aug. 29 to Sept. 8, is the first public poll to put the movie actor ahead of the career politician. Unlike conventional telephone polls, which have reported Mr. Bustamante leading the recall race, Californians who participated in the online survey voted 40 percent for Schwarzenegger and 28 percent for the lieutenant governor. Among registered voters, 62 percent indicated "yes" for the recall and 38 percent...

<p>In a state known as fertile ground for the surreal, it seems only fitting that California's next governor could be a former bodybuilder, ``Dating Game'' contestant and Hollywood actor who wore a leather loincloth in his breakthrough role.</p> <p>But if all the stars line up, the Terminator is ready to storm California's sedate capital and transform it into an unparalleled political spectacle befitting a state that brought the world Electric Kool-Aid Acid Tests, Burning Man and the American Taliban.</p>