SAN FRANCISCO — GOP gubernatorial contender Arnold Schwarzenegger’s campaign has kept largely to more conservative areas, but his wife, NBC journalist and Kennedy cousin Maria Shriver, ventured onto liberal turf Tuesday to present “Ten Things You Should Know About Arnold.”

Shriver, 47, addressing the Commonwealth Club of California at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, steered clear of specific policy issues and instead touted her husband’s strengths as a family man, a self-made businessman and a born leader — an embodiment of the American dream, she said, who’s savvy with everything from budgets to bedtime stories.

The first thing people should know is that “Arnold is smart, make no mistake about it,” she said. Second, “he is disciplined, determined and incredibly decisive.”

Third, “he is bold and he follows his gut,” she asserted, citing his immigration, his conquest of Hollywood, his marriage into the Kennedy clan and his current candidacy.

Fourth, she said, “he is compassionate” with the disadvantaged, with children and with working people.

Fifth, Schwarzenegger “is a leader” willing to tackle tough issues without checking public opinion polls first, she claimed, offering harsh words to those who criticize her husband for not already knowing his way around Sacramento’s halls of power: “Those are the kinds of people who got us into this mess in the first place.”

Sixth, she said, “he is an optimist” who goes about his work “assuming there are solutions to the obstacles we all face” and applying a “can-do attitude” to solve them. Seventh, Shriver said Schwarzenegger “is inclusive, and that means bipartisan,” a fiscal conservative and social moderate willing to take good ideas from anyone.

Eighth, “he is his own man… beholden to no one” in California or elsewhere –evidenced by the fact that he’s a Republican after so many years surrounded by Kennedys.

Ninth, she said, “he has vision,” and is a role model for those who set and attain their own goals.

And tenth, she said, “Arnold loves this state and this country,” a land of opportunity for him.

“He is in love with California and he wants to harness that can-do attitude to straighten this state out,” she said.

Today, he’ll go head-to-head with his competitors for the first time in a debate sponsored by the California Broadcasters Association. Bay Area viewers can see it live at 6 p.m. on channels 4, 5, 7 and 11. It also will be shown at 11:30 p.m. on Channel 2.

“If you don’t vote for Arnold, it’s cool with me,” she said, explaining a loss on Oct. 7 means he would return to her and their four children full-time. “But it will be the state’s loss.”

Contact Josh Richman at
jrichman@angnewspapers.com .

Shriver took written questions from the audience, dodging a few about what her life would be like as California’s first lady, and refuting a suggestion that backing her Republican husband is “heresy” to her family’s Democratic dynasty. Schwarzenegger is a candidate in the finest Kennedy tradition, she insisted.

“Arnold doesn’t need this job, Lord knows,” she said. “He is giving back to this country he feels indebted to.”