Ralph Nader letter to Arnold Schwarzenegger

Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger
1338 Fourth St
Santa Monica, CA 90401-1302
October 2, 2003

Dear Mr. Schwarzenegger:

Two of your recent public comments raise useful questions about your campaign to the voters of California.

Earlier this week you stated before your admirers the following:

“Let me just now tell you something, this is now hand-to-hand combat, we are in the trenches, this is war.”

This is a strange characterization for a candidate who refuses to engage his opponents. Can you imagine you saying this in your movies while sitting on a throne surrounded by your allies? The marauding Terminator in the movies races after his adversaries. In real life as a candidate you are running away from reporters, unscripted questions and debates, even running away from the mild Gray Davisí challenge to debate. You are demonstrating a cowardice unbecoming a cyborg, not to mention a non-elaborated candidate for Californiaís highest political office. This does not augur well for your pledge to be an accessible Governor in Sacramento.

Today, on radio, you were heard saying that you are no longer talking about “campaigning,” you are talking about “governing”. Whoa! You may think the polling is over, but the voters of California are the ones to render the judgement on election day, are they not? Many of those voters do not like candidates who prejudge them with exuberant and perhaps overweening overconfidence.

Other than carefully orchestrated assemblages and photo opportunities, you are not running for the people; you are running from the people. Only a celluloid driven electoral process makes this possible.

Sincerely,

Ralph Nader
P.O. Box 19312
Washington, D.C. 20036