For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.
Republicans have been muttering about wooing African American and Latino voters away from the Democrats for years – and Arnold Schwarzenegger is the latest to give it a serious shot. Not content with the stomping in the polls he’s already giving his challenger, state treasurer Phil Angelides, California’s depressingly popular governor has been stumping hard in black and brown neighborhoods in Los Angeles and elsewhere. His staff is even helping black churches apply for grants from the after-school program he helped launch before his run for office. It seems to be paying off: polls are showing that while only nine per cent of California’s African Americans are registered Republicans, 20 per cent support Schwarzenegger.
