OHIO CAMPAIGNING In relentless parade of celebs, Schwarzenegger comes next

Schwarzenegger originally didn't want to travel for the president.
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Over four decades, Arnold Schwarzenegger has proved to be a successful salesman for everything from his action movies (most of them, anyway) and muscle magazines to his after-school programs and state spending cuts.
This week, California's governor will take his show on the road to Ohio in a bid to shore up President Bush's prospects in the state every Republican in history has needed to win the White House.
With the most recent polls showing Democratic challenger John Kerry holding the slimmest of leads over Bush in Ohio, both men are looking for every possible angle to lock up the state's 20 electoral votes.
"With a race this close you throw everything you've got," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virgina Center for Politics. "You throw the kitchen sink -- and Arnold is a big kitchen sink."
His 'second home'
Ohio might seem like an unusual place for the Austrian-born bodybuilder who has spent most of his adult life in Hollywood. But Schwarzenegger has deep roots in the Buckeye State. He helped launch an annual bodybuilding contest in Columbus that has morphed into one of the city's biggest events. He co-owns as swank shopping mall with a prominent Ohio businessman. And he has embraced the state as his "second home."
Plus, he twice helped Bush's father campaign in Ohio. (Which the elder Bush won in 1988, but lost to Bill Clinton in 1992.)
This year, Ohio voters are among the most sought after in the nation. Both parties have spent millions of dollars to broadcast thousands of commercials around the state. Kerry has gone goose hunting with locals, while Bush has donned safety glasses to speak with factory workers. Everyone from rock legend Bruce Springsteen and actor Ben Affleck to golf guru Jack Nicklaus and NFL quarterback John Elway has blown through the state in a bid to sway voters one way or another.
The celebrity onslaught has almost inured Ohioans to the relentless political courtship.
"There's a certain level of happiness that voters have that were receiving so much attention this year," said Eric Rademacher, co-director of the University of Cincinnati's Ohio Poll, which has the presidential race in a statistical dead-heat. "But I'm highly skeptical that anyone is going to cast a vote for Bush because of Arnold Schwarzenegger or any other celebrity."
Work in campaign offices
What may be more important, said Rademacher, are the unseen party loyalists working around the clock in campaign offices across the state to ensure that voters go to the polls on Nov. 2.
Still, political analysts say Schwarzenegger could help Bush on two fronts.
First, the more moderate California governor could soften the president's conservative image and reassure wavering middle-of-the-road voters.
Second, the charismatic actor could provide a jolt of energy that helps galvanize the party faithful and ensures that they cast their votes for Bush.
"If he could move even a few thousand votes that would be very important," said Ohio State University political science professor Herb Weisberg.
As a moderate Republican who has differed with the president on everything from a constitutional ban on gay marriage to funding stem cell research, Schwarzenegger is also taking a bit of a political gamble by stumping for Bush.
Schwarzenegger knows that he risks losing support in California if he veers away from his bipartisan approach to running the Golden State. In fact, Schwarzenegger initially dismissed the idea of traveling across the country to campaign for Bush.
"It is a challenge because, on one hand, I want him to win, and on the other hand, I'm elected to be governor of California and to be the people's governor, which means the Democrats' and the Republicans' governor," he told the California Journal in July. "I do not (want to) go around the country or anything like that, because there's too many Democrats here. I don't want to rub that in their face."
Finally agreed
But after talks with White House advisers, Schwarzenegger finally agreed to make a brief stop in Ohio for Bush. Schwarzenegger aides are keeping their plans under wraps for the moment and declined to discuss the governor's trip. But residents of Columbus expect to see him in their city late this week.
California Democrats are already seizing on the trip to link Schwarzenegger to the president's more conservative policies.
"Despite his feints to the center in California, he's always been a staunch Republican," said Democratic state Treasurer Phil Angelides. "Fundamentally Bush and Schwarzenegger share the same values."
But it is the differences between the two men, especially on social issues, that may in fact make it more difficult for Schwarzenegger to woo voters to the president's side, said Darrell West, Brown University political science professor.
"I would be surprised if there was a big Schwarzenegger effect because his base is different from the president's, and it is hard to transfer popularity to someone else," West said. "People could adore Arnold Schwarzenegger, but that doesn't mean that they're going to let him tell them how to vote for president."