Stars Could Eclipse Governor

As he attempts to “go over the heads” of legislators and speak directly to voters, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may find in the new year that his most persistent political obstacles are not politicians, but fellow celebrities.

Schwarzenegger is expected to spend the next several weeks campaigning for his $15-billion bond issue to refinance the state’s debt and his balanced budget amendment, which will appear on the March ballot. To get his message out, the governor and his aides intend to use some of the same talk radio, local TV, national cable networks and entertainment shows -- from “Access Hollywood” to Howard Stern’s radio fest -- that he relied on to avoid the political press during the recall campaign.

But such shows, though they have allowed Schwarzenegger to exploit the advantages his celebrity gives him over political opponents, now pose a complication: They have a near obsession with a series of continuing, tabloid-style stories with strong California angles.

That has set up an unusual contest for media time between celebrity trials and Schwarzenegger -- and left the governor’s aides scheduling around Michael Jackson. A senior advisor to the governor even keeps a calendar that includes courtroom dates for Jackson, Kobe Bryant and the trial of Scott Peterson on charges of murdering his wife and the son she was carrying.

Already, the governor has found himself fighting for air time with the child molestation case against Jackson. Laker star Bryant’s sexual assault case and the murder charges against Peterson and record producer Phil Spector have at times been the subjects of around-the-clock coverage on cable, talk and entertainment outlets.

Performer to Politician

Television and radio producers and media experts say those stories are almost certain to gobble up air time and draw camera crews that might otherwise go to California’s governor. And though Schwarzenegger’s stardom will always make him something of a ratings boost for entertainment and tabloid programs, the governor may find he is less of a draw as time passes and he is seen more as politician than performer.

Erik Braverman, operations director for KABC-AM (790) in Los Angeles -- a station on which the governor has been a frequent guest -- said the Jackson story has cut into the time his station’s talk show hosts have devoted, not only to Schwarzenegger, but also to news from the war on terrorism.

“No matter what the story is, something bigger and more interesting can always come along,” Braverman said. “I’ve told our personalities that the Arnold story is like the movies. He’s a big personality, and that got him attention during the campaign, got him into the theater, so to speak, by making him governor. But for us to stick around, he has to continue to be entertaining, and be talked about as governor, or people will talk about some of these other stories more.

“For Arnold, we’re at the point where the movie better be good, or his appeal as a story will diminish,” Braverman said.

The art of scheduling announcements around other news events is a time-honored political tradition. But Schwarzenegger’s high profile and his reliance on entertainment media put him in a different league of competition from that of other politicians, media insiders say.

He has already lost some battles for attention.

Schwarzenegger’s first major rally as governor, on Nov. 20 in the San Fernando Valley, was all but eclipsed by two events that day: the charging of Spector with the murder of a woman at the rock producer’s Alhambra home and Jackson’s decision to turn himself in to authorities.

Schwarzenegger, who can attract more than a dozen cameras to a Christmas tree lighting, drew only six that day, along with just one Los Angeles TV reporter.

The rally’s hosts, talk show personalities John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou of the “John and Ken Show” on KFI-AM (640), even made announcements on the progress of Jackson’s plane, which was carrying the pop star to Santa Barbara for his session with law enforcement officials, before the governor took the stage to speak.

“People used to gather to watch slow white Broncos,” said Schwarzenegger’s communications director, Rob Stutzman, in a reference to O.J. Simpson’s vehicle. “Now people watch Michael Jackson’s plane coming in.... It’s tough for anyone to get coverage when Michael Jackson is posting bail.”

The governor’s friends and aides note that Schwarzenegger’s long personal relationships with media figures make it easier for him to get on certain shows.

Larry King and Oprah Winfrey are friends. Mary Hart of “Entertainment Tonight” is so close to Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, that she agreed to emcee the Christmas tree lighting ceremony at the Capitol. Jay Leno, host of the “Tonight Show,” helped Schwarzenegger stage both the announcement of his candidacy and his victory celebration.

But those relationships haven’t sheltered Schwarzenegger from the competition for attention. During the campaign, the announcement of the drug addiction of conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh briefly eclipsed a major policy speech by Schwarzenegger.

In the week before Christmas, the Jackson case was “a factor, but not anywhere near the most important one,” said one advisor, as the governor’s aides decided whether to schedule public events on the question of how cities and counties would be compensated for the loss of car tax money. Schwarzenegger decided against holding public events once he had invoked a provision of the budget law to provide money directly to cities without legislative approval.

As he campaigns this month and next for his economic plan, which will appear on the March 2 ballot, Schwarzenegger will need access to nontraditional media programs.

Todd Harris, a campaign spokesman and part of the team of political operatives who will work on the ballot measure efforts, declared in a newspaper interview late last year that “we’re going to take the governor’s message -- not just to the 5 and 6 o’clock news, but to ... ‘Access Hollywood’ and People magazine and every other outlet not frequented by the ‘Meet the Press’ crowd.”

The weeks ahead promise plenty of celebrity trial news. Jackson’s arraignment is scheduled for Friday, the same day Schwarzenegger is expected to endorse former Secretary of State Bill Jones for a U.S. Senate seat. Bryant has another hearing Jan. 23, and more hearings are likely in February and March. Spector also has a court appearance scheduled for Jan. 23. The trial of Peterson, in a case that has become a tabloid staple, was to have begun this month but will now be moved and delayed for weeks. Actor Robert Blake, accused of murdering his wife, is also expected to go on trial next month.

The governor “has brought fear, sex and novelty to the stations and programs who are happy with that,” said Martin Kaplan, director of USC’s Norman Lear Center, which studies the intersection of politics and entertainment. “But over time, if he behaves more like a politician, all the things he does in office will have to compete with news that is scarier, newer, sexier and weirder.”

Already, many who track the entertainment industry no longer consider Schwarzenegger an entertainer. Steve Levitt, president of Market Evaluations Inc., which researches the “Q scores” of personalities, said his company would no longer include Schwarzenegger in its surveys, which ask whether the public both knows and likes various entertainment figures. (Schwarzenegger registered a 31 in a survey last summer; the average Q score for an entertainer in the survey was 17). Levitt said the firm, as a matter of policy, does not survey public responses to politicians.

Kelley Colello, a publicist for “Access Hollywood,” which focuses on the entertainment industry, said that, though the program reported extensively on Schwarzenegger’s gubernatorial campaign and swearing-in, it did not plan similar coverage of his governorship.

“During the campaign, it was a star transitioning into politics. But we’re not going to continue to cover every move he makes. At the end of the day, we’re an entertainment news magazine show,” she said. The exception would be in cases “where he does something as governor that intersects with Hollywood.”

Coverage in Flux

Local TV producers -- who for now have also stepped up reporting on Schwarzenegger and, in some cases, opened Sacramento bureaus -- said the amount of their coverage might depend on the governor’s success as a politician.

Jeff Wald, news director at KTLA-TV Channel 5 in Los Angeles, says the public will lose interest in Schwarzenegger “if he doesn’t deliver on his promises, if he falls into the same trap that the previous politicians have fallen into, if he ... sells out as a politician.”

“If he’s unsuccessful,” said Barbara O’Connor, director of Cal State Sacramento’s Institute for the Study of Politics and the Media, “it’s only natural interest will wane. And other things will take precedence.”

And in California, she added, there are always plenty of other stories to entertain the public.

Times staff writers Anna Gorman, Steve Henson, William Overend and Richard Winton contributed to this report.