Governor Schwarzenegger To Avoid Bush -- Again [Air Force One @ Reagan Library, FRIDAY, 10/21/05]

(AP) LOS ANGELES At the Republican National Convention last year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger couldn't say enough good things about President Bush. But lately, it looks like he's trying to avoid him.

The president will visit California this week for the second time since August, but he and the Republican governor are not expected to see each other - in public or private - for the second consecutive time.

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With the Nov. 8 special election looming, Schwarzenegger is trying to court independents and Democrats to support a string of his ballot proposals - two groups of voters that polls show loath the Republican president.

"Unless President Bush is coming to California to hand over a check from the federal government to help us with the financial challenges we face, the visit seems ill timed," said Karen Hanretty, a spokeswoman for the state Republican Party.

Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political scientist at the University of Southern California, said the president could turn off voters Schwarzenegger needs to supplement his Republican base on Election Day. Polls have shown some of the proposals lagging at a time when the governor's own popularity has hit an all-time low.

Schwarzenegger's office has told the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley he will not attend Friday's dedication ceremony for an exhibit featuring a Boeing 707 that carried seven presidents.

The governor is also skipping a Republican National Committee fundraiser at a private home in Los Angeles on Thursday. Bush will be at both events.

"We have a very busy campaign schedule," said Todd Harris, a spokesman for Schwarzenegger's campaign.

The governor is pushing ballot initiatives that would cap state spending, strip lawmakers of the power to draw political boundaries, lengthen the probationary period for teachers from two years to five and force public employee unions, such as those representing teachers, firefighters and prison guards, to seek written permission from members before using dues for political purposes.

Bush last made a swing through the state in August, when he stopped in Rancho Cucamonga and San Diego. Schwarzenegger was conspicuously absent.

It's no secret that California is not Bush country. The president lost the state to Democrat John Kerry in the 2004 presidential race and to Vice President Al Gore in 2000.

Recent polls also show Bush's job approval ratings, nationally, are at an all-time low, his image battered by the war in Iraq and the government's slow response to Hurricane Katrina. Meanwhile, a grand jury is investigating whether a crime was committed when presidential adviser Karl Rove, fellow White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby and possibly others in government leaked information blowing the cover of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame, the wife of Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson.

Schwarzenegger had nothing but praise for Bush at the 2004 GOP convention, when he called him "a leader who doesn't flinch, doesn't waver, does not back down." But no one would call them close - they disagree over abortion rights, illegal immigration and stem cell research, among other issues.

While Schwarzenegger is keeping his distance from Bush, he campaigned last week with Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican known for his crossover appeal.

The White House did not return a phone call Tuesday afternoon, but one Republican leader said Bush's visit would generate enthusiasm among Republicans, which could help Schwarzenegger's campaign.

"I don't see any negative," said state Senate Minority Leader Dick Ackerman, R-Tustin.

Schwarzenegger's absence from the library would be striking because the governor has described Reagan as a role model and Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, are friendly with the late president's widow, Nancy Reagan.

But Schwarzenegger has also shown a willingness to skip events that other governors might consider mandatory. Last month, he turned down an invitation to attend opening ceremonies at the University of California, Merced, the first UC campus to be built in four decades.