Phil better take notice. If he wants to try to replicate the Roberti campaign of 1994, he's up against a team that knows how to fight back. I've been accused of a lot of things, but not being willing to fight back isn't one of them.

That's why Arnold has loaded up his campaign with a bunch of Bush-Cheney operatives. They really understand how to appeal to voters in the bluest state in America.

In both cases, he did it with very strong bipartisan backing. But they wrongly and foolishly extrapolated from the recall and the Prop. 57-58 and 66 campaigns that this guy was a masterful campaigner who could sell ice to Eskimos and could sell pork pies in a synagogue.

The timing was not accidental. There's more to come.

Only a handful of Democrats know either one of the candidates. Both of them are starting virtually from scratch.

Why would you pick someone who was director of press relations for the most disliked, discredited vice president since Spiro Agnew?