President, Governor Each Count on Other
Friday, October 17, 2003; Page A01
SAN BERNARDINO, Oct. 16 -- President Bush shared a stage here Thursday with Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger for the first time since the state's historic recall election, rekindling questions of whether the new celebrity governor can help put California in play in the 2004 presidential election, and whether the president will help bail the state out of its massive fiscal problems.
Their first meeting offered few answers. The two men appeared publicly after spending about 45 minutes in private and praised one another as friends and allies. But they never came close to addressing the issues that will be at the heart of one of the most intriguing political relationships in the Republican Party.
In his public statements, Bush made no promise of federal aid to the nation's most populous state. Schwarzenegger later told reporters he had made no specific requests for assistance, preferring, he said, to start "just building our relationship" in their first meeting.
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With the president in the state, Schwarzenegger backed away from some of the tougher rhetoric he used during the campaign to suggest that he would press Washington to provide additional funding. On CNN's "Larry King Live," he said he would "demand" that California get its fair share of the federal taxes it sends east. "By the time I'm through with this whole thing," he said, "I will not be known as the Terminator. I will be known as the Collectinator."
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36093-2003Oct16.html