Arnold represents GOP’s centrists

NEW YORK — “Governator” Arnold Schwarzenegger suddenly has become a symbol for Democrats who charge that the California governor’s prime-time speech shows a Republican Party desperately trying to distance itself from it conservative core.

But when the Austrian-born bodybuilder with the much-parodied accent takes to the national stage tonight at the Republican National Convention, he will appear as a popular politician with hopes to cast the Republican Party as a middle-of-the-road party that embraces dissent and diversity among its rank and file.

“Governor Schwarzenegger presents, obviously beyond the star power, one of the most successful faces in the party, who has broad bipartisan appeal, who’s been able to govern as a fiscal conservative and a social moderate,” said his spokesman, Rob Stutzman.

“His is the quintessential Republican story, a tribute to self-determination and a tribute to what can be accomplished when opportunity is presented to you — it’s the American dream writ large by an immigrant.”

The Bush-Cheney campaign, which has courted its conservative base in the past few months, is cognizant of the governor’s appeal to moderates, as is the case with former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who eagerly was courted by Democrats for the vice-presidential slot on Sen. John Kerry’s ticket.

Democrats complain that the show of diversity — not only via liberal Republicans such as Mr. Schwarzenegger, but with the inclusion of blacks, Hispanics and women in the program — is nothing more than a sham.

“Republicans are going to fake it all week during their convention by putting moderates and women and minorities on stage, but the American people need to look no further than their record to see who they really are and what they really believe,” Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe said a day before the Republican convention opened.

DNC Communications Director Jano Cabrera said yesterday that the appearance of Mr. Schwarzenegger is emblematic of the entire convention.

“They’re putting forward an actor to speak on behalf of the Republican Party,” he said.

“There’s a reason why they’ve put forward McCain, Schwarzenegger, Giuliani. These individuals are popular with moderates, but not with the conservative Republican base,” he said. “They want to send the message that they’re representative of Republicans as a whole, when in fact they are not.”

He dismissed the Republican boast that the party is a “big tent” with room for widely differing views.

“Of course, they have different viewpoints — they’re just often ignored and marginalized until they can trot them out on stage to try to present them as representative of the party as a whole. The only time moderates get any attention by the Republican Party is during their convention. Otherwise, they’re shunned,” Mr. Cabrera said.

But one senior Republican with ties to the White House said it is no secret that the Bush campaign is seeking voters whose views are more centrist and who might be weighing whether to support President Bush’s re-election bid.

“The Republican Party is not simply one idea, take it or leave it,” the official said. “The party is far bigger than that, and there is room for many, many viewpoints within it. I think Arnold Schwarzenegger embodies that spirit.”

Mr. Stutzman also said Democrats are scrambling to portray Republicans as out of step with America, when it is their party that is monolithic.

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