Schwarzenegger leaves mixed legacy in Calif.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Arnold Schwarzenegger landed in the governor's office after announcing his upstart bid on late night TV and railing against government spending during raucous campaign rallies - at one playing a spirited round of air guitar to the rock anthem "We're Not Gonna Take It." Then the world's best known action star, Schwarzenegger conveyed an image of invincibility, persuading Californians that anything was possible if only they had the right mindset.

"I know how to sell something," he said then.

As he would come to learn, selling a political idea is one thing. Delivering on it is quite another.

In high Hollywood style, Schwarzenegger made bold commitments to cut through Sacramento's dysfunctional political system and put the state on a path to prosperity. But his celebrity quickly ran aground on the shoals of bureaucracy, entrenched politics and something Schwarzenegger had never faced before - angry detractors who didn't hesitate to attack him publicly.

His outsize personality wasn't enough to see through many of his dreams and promises, especially once the recession hit in late 2007 and led to a steep decline in tax revenue.

So the governor, 63, leaves office next month with a mixed record. He's won praise for his precedent-setting environmental activism, but criticism for his failure to tame the fiscal mess, as he promised when Californians recalled Gov. Gray Davis and installed him instead.

On the job, he often didn't have the patience to get the changes he wanted. He regularly changed course on major initiatives when he hit roadblocks.

After besting an eclectic and improbable parade of 134 other candidates in the first successful recall of a sitting governor in California history, Schwarzenegger fulfilled a campaign promise to wipe out an increase in the car tax on his first day in office, punching a $6-billion annual hole in the state budget.

When lawmakers didn't go along with him, he called them "girlie men" for failing to stand up to special interests he said controlled their agenda.

He alternately praised and vilified fellow Republicans, telling delegates to a convention of his own party in a public speech that the California GOP was "dying at the box office." They ignored him, and the minority party's slide continued into this November's election, when Republicans failed to win a single statewide office.

Now, Schwarzenegger leaves with an approval rating of 32 percent - about the same as Davis' when he was recalled - and incoming Gov. Jerry Brown with virtually the same fiscal position but with fewer options to fix it. After successive years of gimmicks to close the gaps, California's deficit is estimated at $28 billion over the next 18 months.