I’ll believe it when I see it, but Arnold said today that he’s done with elective politics:

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger won’t say what his plans are when his term expires next year, but he won’t be running for another office.

”I have never labeled myself as a politician, so I am not going to run for anything else,” Schwarzenegger told reporters in Milan on Tuesday.  (NY Times 11/18/09)

To say Arnold Schwarzenegger was a one-off would be quite the understatement. There will never be another leader with quite that mix of showmanship and bravado, brinksmanship and wrong-headedness, inconsistency and doggedness. You never quite grasp where you are going with Arnold Schwarzenegger, and this is entirely intentional.

But don’t worry, Meg Whitman will spend $150 Million to prove that she’s Arnold 2.0, way better than the first incarnation of a rich Republican come to save us from ourselves.