Arnold surprises no one

Arnold announces today that he's the running man:

Arnold Schwarzenegger, to the surprise of almost no one, declared today that he would seek re-election as governor of California in November 2006.

The announcement came at the end of a town hall-style meeting here, after a carefully screened crowd lobbed softball questions at him about his efforts to revamp California's schools and budget process. No one, however, asked him about his plans for next year, when his term expires, even though his appearance had been promoted as the forum for announcing his re-election plans. So he asked himself if he would run.

"Of course I'm going to finish the job," he responded. "I'm a follow-through guy."

"I'm not in there for three years," Mr. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, added. "I'm in there for seven years. Yes, I will run again." The crowd inside the auditorium applauded, as protesters outside chanted, "Hey hey, ho ho, Schwarzenegger's got to go."

And so far the crowds outside are much louder than those inside.

But the Times makes this sound like a totally bungled re-election announcement. You'd think they'd have one of those "softball throwers" ask him something simple, like "How can we expect you to follow through in Sacramento when you haven't announced you'll run again?" or something to that effect. I guess this is more Arnold "political savvy - having to ask yourself a question to which most of the state probably doesn't care about the answer.