Beatty dabbles in politics, scoffs at Schwarzenegger

Some Democrats hope he'll run for governor in 2006.
WASHINGTON POST
LOS ANGELES -- Warren Beatty is flirting again -- this time with politics. He recently addressed a convention of nurses. In the spring, it was college students. His target: California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, R.
In other times, this joust -- between Bulworth and the Terminator -- could be written off as just two aging Hollywood titans sparring over social policy.
But as California moves toward an election year, Democrats are buzzing about Beatty's broadsides because their party has yet to find an exciting, recognizable candidate to challenge Schwarzenegger in November 2006. Polls show the governor lagging with an approval rating a little over 30 percent. But neither of the two declared Democrats, state Controller Steve Westly and Treasurer Phil Angelides, has electrified the electorate.
The Democratic Party's problems here mirror its troubles nationwide, said Dick Rosengarten, co-publisher of California Political Week, a nonpartisan newsletter.
"Could Phil Angelides or Steve Westly have gotten that same kind of coverage making the same speech?" he asked about Beatty's address last Thursday in Oakland. "The answer is: no! The one thing they lack is charisma."
Energizing nurses
In his speech to the California Nurses Association, Beatty accused Schwarzenegger of governing "by show, by spin, by cosmetics and photo ops, fake events, fake issues and fake crowds and backdrops."
The crowd of 500 union delegates interrupted him throughout, chanting "Run, Warren, Run" as Beatty peppered his remarks with gags about nurses, enemas and Schwarzenegger's physique. As if the evening didn't already have enough star power, Beatty's wife, Annette Bening, joined him, as did actor and director Sean Penn.
The nurses union has been at the forefront of a boisterous anti-Schwarzenegger campaign after the governor declared open season on all public employee unions because of their influence over the Democratic-controlled Legislature and their aversion to changing their pensions. Nurses hound him.
On Tuesday, the organization posted an eBay sales page offering Schwarzenegger for "sale," saying it gave "regular people the chance to compete with wealthy individuals and big corporations to own the world's best known celebrity politician."
Governor's stance
Schwarzenegger told the Associated Press he thought Beatty, 68, was "silly" and suggested the actor was jealous.
"We don't care that much about Warren Beatty," said Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Margita Thompson, "and based on his ticket sales from the past generation, I doubt anyone else does either." Ron Stutzman, Schwarzenegger's communications director, has called Beatty a "crackpot."
A Field Poll in June showed that 24 percent of California voters backed a Beatty candidacy, while 53 percent were opposed, and 23 percent had no opinion.
Beatty used most of his address to lambaste the GOP governor's ballot initiatives in the Nov. 8 special election. Schwarzenegger is backing measures to limit the power of the Democrat-controlled legislature and politicking by powerful public employee unions. Beatty labeled as "fascist" one measure that would give the governor the power to slash the budget without the approval of the legislature.
Enigmatic
At the end of his speech, Beatty was coy when asked if he was planning to challenge the governor.
"I don't want to run for governor. But I don't think anyone should put public service out the question, because that's not what a good citizen does. I think people have an obligation to say what they think," he told San Francisco 's KGO-TV.
Peter Bart, the editor in chief of Variety, said there was "something delicious about Warren Beatty, a well-known womanizer, making his debut in front of a bunch of nurses."
But he did not appear bullish about the potential of a Beatty candidacy. For one, Bart said, Beatty is famous among Hollywood's cognoscenti for not being able to make up his mind.
"He is very canny and very cautious and famous for circling around movie projects endlessly," Bart said. "He's not one of the more productive people."