Arnie turns to muscle for campaign

Date: 05-09-2006 Posted by: Anabolic Info TeamUnited Kingdom

Arnold Schwarzenegger has attempted to woo voters at the infamous "Muscle Beach" in Southern California.

The Californian governor made an appearance after a line of bronzed and oiled male and female bodybuilding contestants paraded on stage at the Muscle Beach Championships.

He said: "When I retired from bodybuilding competitions in 1975, I said 'I retire from competition but I will continue supporting the sport of bodybuilding' and this is what I've done ever since 1975.

"I have a great time doing this because I'm such a strong believer that bodybuilding helped me so much in my life.

"It helped me with discipline and with goal setting and turning my goals into reality and all this and so I always recommended to every kid, to everyone, to exercise daily and to go and live well with good nutrition and food supplements and all of those things so I think it is good for everybody."

Receiving thunderous applause from the crowd, the governor avoided political topics and did not take questions from reporters, stopping only to sign a few autographs.

During the afternoon appearance, Schwarzenegger also praised the Muscle Beach lifetime achievement award given to bodybuilding icon Joe Weider, who helped Schwarzenegger emigrate from Austria in 1968.

He later visited campaign workers in Whittier where he shook hands with volunteers and several times asked for the telephone to speak with potential campaign recruits.

He also delivered an upbeat message to a crowd inside the office.

Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger's opponent Phil Angelides attended an annual breakfast put on by organised labour, which Angelides will need if he is to succeed.

Labour Day, a national holiday, marks the start of the campaign season in the US.