Bush and Arnie to celebrate California win

US President George W Bush is scheduled to shake hands with new California governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger today, the first time the pair have met since Schwarzenegger’s triumph at the polls last week

Bush is in California to raise political funds and to give speeches on the economy on his way to a six-nation tour of Asia.

Yesterday he told a cheering crowd at a campaign-style speech on the economy in Dinuba: “Tomorrow I get to meet the governor-elect. I’m looking forward to it.”

Bush said he will share with Schwarzenegger his optimism that “America is on the right path.”

“I’m optimistic and I have reason to be optimistic. Our country has overcome a lot in the past several years,” Bush said.

When Bush and Schwarzenegger meet, both politicians will bring their own agenda to the meeting.

The governor-elect campaigned as a Republican who could work with the White House and pledged to carry a list of demands to the US government.

The two will meet privately and then Schwarzenegger will introduce the President at a scheduled Bush speech on the economy and the war on terror, presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said.

“By the time I’m through with this whole thing, I will not be known as the Terminator, I will be known as the Collectinator,” Schwarzenegger said.

As a candidate, Schwarzenegger said he would seek help from the government to stem illegal immigration, get Washington to buy back California’s offshore oil leases and tap federal money to finance his plan for a network of hydrogen car fuel stations.

Officials with both camps said today’s meeting will be private.

On the eve of his California stay, Bush was in confident mood about his political future. Asked about his declining poll ratings, the result of concerns about Iraq and the economy, he told Australian TV station Channel 9: “There was a poll that showed me going up yesterday. Actually I’m in pretty good shape politically, I really am.”

California Republicans and Bush re-election officials say Schwarzenegger’s victory last week can only help Bush win California’s 55 electoral votes next year. He lost the state by more than 1.2 million votes in 2000.

The win drove up Republican registrations and political contributions to the party, said Ken Khachigian, a former White House aide who helped presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and the first President George Bush carry California.

Barbara O’Connor, director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and Media at California State University in Sacramento, said the onus is on Bush.

“He has to deliver some goods to show that (Schwarzenegger) being a Republican with a Republican in the White House makes a difference,” she said.