http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/03/17/GUV.TMPOn Jan. 5, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger presented the Legislature with an ambitious agenda to shake up state government and demanded that lawmakers quickly enact his proposals.
Yet even as Schwarzenegger has alternately accused legislators of stalling his agenda and insisted he wants to negotiate with them, the governor has spent most of his time away from the Capitol.
In the 10 weeks since he threatened to bypass the Legislature and go straight to voters, he has spent just 18 full days in Sacramento, according to a review of daily schedules prepared by the governor's press office. He has spent seven partial days in the Capitol during that period.
Schwarzenegger first publicly accused Democrats of stalling his agenda in a speech on Jan. 26 -- after he had been out of town for the previous eight days, traveling to Washington, D.C., for President Bush's inauguration and frequently working in Los Angeles.
Today, he is scheduled to tour a Burbank business and gather signatures for ballot initiatives.
For Schwarzenegger, campaigning has always been a large part of governing.