Losing His Groove

Could Arnold Schwarzenegger's honeymoon finally be coming to an end? It certainly seemed that way last week, when the California Governor responded to a question about illegal immigration by saying the U.S. should "close the borders" with Mexico to stop "all of those people coming across." The gaffe infuriated the state's Hispanic voters, and Schwarzenegger rushed to explain he had meant to say "securing our border," blaming the misunderstanding on a "language problem." But suddenly the Governor's heavily accented bons mots didn't seem so charming. Political circles were buzzing that Schwarzenegger, whose approval rating has plunged from 65% last year to 49%, may have lost his groove.

To complicate matters, an intense power struggle divides his staff. A conservative faction of aides, including Schwarzenegger's chief of staff, is at war with a liberal one led by Arnold's wife Maria Shriver, who has taken a newly aggressive role in trying to burnish his image. "Nobody really knows who is in charge," says Allan Hoffenblum, a Republican strategist in Los Angeles. "His followers want to rally around the flag, but they can't find the flagpole." The Governor's spokesman, Rob Stutzman, says the press has been "mischaracterizing robust discussion as a split."

The timing of Schwarzenegger's troubles could not be worse. He is trying to sell an ambitious program for political and economic reform directly to voters, and has already been forced to postpone an amendment--one of four he was hoping to push through this year--that would overhaul the state's pension system. With his agenda and pugnacious style provoking the ire of the state's powerful unions, one observer, former Governor and current Oakland mayor Jerry Brown, suggests that Schwarzenegger may want to "evaluate his range of adversaries and look for ways in which accommodations can be made." But Arnold might find that proposing amendments is easier than making amends. --By Unmesh Kher. Reported by Terry McCarthy and Jeffrey Ressner