Schwarzenegger 'pumps up' Bush campaign

Last Updated: Friday, October 29, 2004 | 8:10 PM ET

CBC News

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared at a Bush event Friday night, injecting some star power into the presidential campaign's final few days.

• INDEPTH: Election USA

"Today I am here to pump you up to re-elect President George W. Bush," the bodybuilder turned actor turned Republican politician told a wildly cheering crowd in Columbus, Ohio.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger introduces President Bush at a campaign rally in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo)

"There's no two ways about it, America is back," he said, as the president and his wife Laura looked on. "We are back from the attack on our homeland, we are back from the attack on our economy, and we are back from the attack on our way of life."

Ohio is a critical swing state that could help decide the result of Tuesday's election.

Bush and his opponent, Democratic candidate John Kerry, are in a dead heat as they battle for the state's 20 electoral college votes.

• RELATED STORY: Bush, Kerry enter campaign's last weekend in dead heat

Ohio voters have picked the winner in every presidential election since 1964.

Schwarzenegger enthused over his trip to the state where he won the Mr. World competition as a young bodybuilder, back in 1970. "I love Ohio. Ohio is like my second home," said the Austrian-born politician.

He went on to tell the audience that since Bush took power in 2000, small business taxes in the state are lower, "home ownership is higher, federal education funding is up, and the economy is coming back."

Ohio has lost more than 170,000 factory jobs since 2000, about one of every six jobs in the state.

Schwarzenegger had not appeared on the campaign trail before this, saying his duties as governor were keeping him at home in California.

The only exception was his Aug. 31 speech praising Bush at the Republican National Convention in New York.

Kerry was not shy about calling in his own celebrity weapons in swing states this week.

• FROM OCT. 25, 2004: Post-surgery Clinton campaigns for Kerry

Earlier in the week, former president Bill Clinton made one of his first public appearances since undergoing heart bypass surgery, stumping for Kerry in Pennsylvania.

As well, revered rock star Bruce Springsteen entertained at several Kerry campaign events in Ohio and Wisconsin on Thursday and Friday.

Springsteen's rock anthem No Surrender has become the campaign theme song for Kerry, who is said to be an above-average guitarist.