The political heat is on here in California. With gubernatorial elections looming, the candidates are ready to take pot shots at each other in their new language of choice: español.

Candidate for governor Steve Westly has already begun his campaign, and Mr. Schwarznegger is launching one of his own in the near future:

Westly ad: “Sus iniciativas perjudicaran a nuestros ninos, nuestros masestros y a la gente trabajadora.” (“His initiatives will be a detriment to our children, our teachers and working people.”)

Less than two weeks ago, the governor’s campaign team launched their own Spanish language ads supporting Propositions 74 to 77. Interestingly, Schwarzenegger is not in them.

Schwarzenegger ad: “Es preferable controlar gastos y balancear el presupuesto que aumentar impuestos.” (It’s better to control costs and balance the budget, than to raise taxes.”)

The governor is going to need a lot more than Spanish ads to court Latinos. He’s pretty much in bad with every minority group imaginable in this state, including Latinos, who according to the 2000 census (and unfortunately for him) represent 32% of the population of California. Maybe that’s why he’s spending one million dollars on the ad campaign while his opponent only a quarter of that. Good luck, Arnie…and good riddance!

Via / ABC 7 News