In October 2003 Austrian-born bodybuilder and movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected Governor of California. This event was remarkable not only for SchwarzeneggerÂ’s lack of political experience but also for the fact that he was a Republican campaigning in a state in which Democrats held an 8 percentage point edge in party registration, and controlled all seven other statewide political offices (Kousser 2004, p32). For all of these reasons, SchwarzeneggerÂ’s success has prompted considerable critical attention to the elements of his campaign that allowed this political neophyte to assume one of the highest elected offices in the United States.
