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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tom Clarke who wrote (4510)	8/7/2003 9:43:46 PM
From: Tom Clarke	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793640

Schwarzenegger Hometown Cheers on the 'Governator' Thu Aug 7,11:54 AM ET Add Politics - Reuters to My Yahoo! By Alexandra Zawadil and Marcus Kabel THAL, Austria (Reuters) - The complexities of U.S. politics might be a world away from Arnold Schwarzenegger's Austrian birthplace, but his alpine compatriots are behind him all the way in his bid to become California governor. The film star stunned America on Wednesday when he announced he would run for California governor on a Republican ticket in the upcoming elections and intended to terminate Democrat Governor Gray Davis's political career. In Thal, a town in the Austrian province of Styria and "Arnie's" birthplace, conversation was all abuzz about the local boy-done-good who once grandly stated "I would rather be Governor of California than own Austria." "Politics and acting are very similar, he'll do a good job for sure," said Michael Fuis, a 29 year old worker digging holes in a Thal street. "We are very excited here in Thal to see if he'll make it or not, we generally talk about him and what he does a lot," the muscled self-professed fan of all the Terminator films added. Thal, now a picturesque suburb of provincial capital Graz with neatly painted stone houses criss-crossed by bike lanes and hiking paths, was a poor and isolated farming village in the 1950's when Schwarzenegger was growing up, locals said. Robert Linder, a guest at the restaurant Thalersee, situated on the lake close to the star's childhood home said he should probably stay away from politics, and stick to what he does best. "But then again, if he really wants to, he can afford it," Linder added, eating his lunch in a room adorned with glossy shots of Schwarzenegger with the restaurant owner's family. "I do not care really, America is so far away," said Peter Fiala, a home owner taking out the rubbish a hundred yards down the road from Schwarzenegger's childhood home. "I wish him luck, but to us it means very little." In the Fitness Paradise gym inside Graz's showcase Arnold Schwarzeneggger football stadium, there is a museum dedicated to the star, a corner shrine with pictures from early competitions, and even the metal barbells that he started training with. "People come from all over the world to see these things," said gym manager Hans Neumayer, standing in front of the display of 1960's weight-lifting equipment, complete with cracked linoleum and primitive-looking gray metal weights. "He is our most famous export, and people's reaction to news of the candidacy has been very positive," Neumayer added. And when it comes to political muscle back home, the 56-year old former body-building champion already has it made. The governor of Styria, which is 26 times smaller than California, had only praise for her potentially future colleague. "Even if he wins in California, he will stay a Styrian," Waltraud Klasnic said. "He has shown in his films that he has many faces, he does charity work, he is a family man. Here in Styria we are behind him all the way." Others already saw commercial potential in the bid, with Graz Tourist Board head Dieter Hardt-Stremayr expecting a kind of Arnie-mania to give a boost to the region and the city. "Many people will get interested in his life story, they will want to follow his footsteps and come here looking for the scenery of his early life," he said. "We have already used him in our tourism advertising, he gave us pictures himself. For his 50th birthday we organized a "Schwarzenegger Tour," where you go past his family home and the lake where he proposed to his wife, we could do that again." story.news.yahoo.com