Sacramento, Oct 02: Sounding like the winner rather than a man who still has to be elected, a confident Arnold Schwarzenegger outlined his first 100 days in office on Wednesday -- vowing to slap a freeze on government spending and extract billions from Indian casinos. In a speech outlining what he would do if he won the October 7 recall, the actor and bodybuilder who has never spent a day in public office vowed to repeal a tripling of the state's car tax and to overturn a recently signed law providing drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants.

"I'm not here to talk about campaigning," Schwarzenegger told a boisterous rally of a few hundred supporters in the state capital Sacramento.

"I'm here to talk about governing. We are ready to take office. We are ready for action." The "Terminator" star offered only broad plans for how he would lift the state's economy and tackle a multibillion-dollar budget shortfall if voters oust Gov. Gray Davis from power and then choose Schwarzenegger among the replacement candidates.

Proposals included renegotiating Indian gaming compacts, which Schwarzenegger predicted would increase state revenues by $1 billion to $2 billion, and enacting a spending freeze. He also said he would restructure inherited debt.

Schwarzenegger's confidence was fueled by a new poll -- a Los Angeles Times survey of 815 likely voters that showed 56 percent favored recalling Davis. Of the replacement candidates, 40 percent favored Republican Schwarzenegger, compared with 32 percent for his nearest rival, Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante. The poll had a 3 percent margin of error.
"If people give me the authority to act, I will do so decisively," Schwarzenegger said.

Bureau Report