Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, trying to make light of his cutting remarks to Arianna Huffington at Wednesday's gubernatorial debate, said Thursday he was only giving her a compliment when he told her, "I have a perfect part for you in 'Terminator 4' " and "You need a little more decaf."

She called him a sexist, and he pretty much showed that he was.

David Shawn San Rafael

The GOP front-runner in the recall election wanted to talk about the California economy and his platform at a town hall meeting in Los Angeles. But Schwarzenegger was grilled by Fox Radio's Sean Hannity, the host of the meeting, about Huffington's reaction to the actor's comments. She noted that the female lead in "Terminator 3" was the cyborg who got her head pushed into a toilet.

"The fact of the matter is, it was a compliment. Because in 'Terminator' we always had powerful women," Schwarzenegger responded. "If she takes it the wrong way, it's not my fault."

But Huffington, sipping a Starbucks extra grande ("It's caffeinated," she said with a smile), said Thursday that she has received an "absolutely amazing" outpouring of reaction from women -- 3,000 e-mails so far.

"I had no idea that 'the woman thing' would be an issue," Huffington, an independent candidate for governor, said in San Francisco. While his "Terminator" comment was far from complimentary, it was Schwarzenegger's attitude that most disturbed women voters, she said.

"He would not stop interrupting, and he expected me to be intimidated and cowed," she said. By asking her to opt for decaf, "it's like saying, 'Calm down, dear.'

"There's a chord that was touched. A lot of women are feeling that when they speak out, there are attempts to shut them up," Huffington said.

DAMAGE CONTROL

With just 12 days left in the campaign, the fallout from the incident has forced Schwarzenegger's campaign into damage control and raised the possibility that he might suffer on election day from a gender gap in which California women voters have favored Democrats.

The debate's back-and-forth between Arnold and Arianna also may represent one of those "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" moments in politics -- highlighting the elusive differences in outlook and experience that separate male and female voters.

"A lot of men might have thought Arianna was competing for the Bitch Hall of Fame," said Mark Petracca, UC Irvine professor of political science. "There are lots of situations out there in the real world where men are dismissive of any woman who is assertive."

But for women voters, "something like this exemplifies the worst possibility for Arnold: Gov. 'Conan the Barbarian,' " he said, referring to one of the actor's early films.

One of those women voters, Sandra Finegan, 51, of San Francisco, who e- mailed The Chronicle, said she almost fell out of her chair when she heard the exchange. She called it deja vu -- reviving all those times she'd been outnumbered by men in professional meetings.

"I identified with her, the whole interrupting thing," she said. "I don't remember (Arnold) doing it to any of the men."

Even some men agreed.

"She called him a sexist, and he pretty much showed that he was," David Shawn, the 39-year-old president of a marble and tile company in San Rafael, said of the exchange.

'DEFENDING HIMSELF'

But that's not how Richard Riordan, the former mayor of Los Angeles, saw it.

"Oh, come on," said the moderate Republican, responding in mock horror when asked about the exchange. "Arianna was getting in his face . . . She was attacking him. He was just defending himself."

Sean Walsh, spokesman for Schwarzenegger, downplayed the matter.

"She was treated like any other candidate would be treated in a debate," Walsh said. "You can't go out and say you want to be one thing to the public -- then be shocked and appalled when you're treated as an equal."

Huffington was asked repeatedly Thursday about the matter on the campaign trail, even as she attempted to introduce an initiative for public campaign financing in Sacramento.

"Arnold was determined not to let me speak," she said. "I guess he thought maybe he could get away with it, because he's gotten used to getting away with things."

And, as the only major female candidate for governor, Huffington advised that "the women of California need to take a second look before they vote on Oct. 7."

Not all women agreed, however -- and some took issue with Huffington's combative manner in the debate.

"I thought Arianna definitely went a little bit over the top," said Gwendolyn Majors, an independent voter from San Francisco and a contributor to The Chronicle's Two Cents feature.

"When she said, 'that's how he treats women,' I thought that was completely unnecessary. I liked her before, but after hearing that I thought she sounded like an angry carpool mom."

But for the actor-turned-candidate -- whom the latest Field Poll shows is suffering a 13-percentage-point gap among women voters -- the debate over the debate threatens his attempts to woo the women's vote.

COMMENTS ABOUT WOMEN

For weeks, Schwarzenegger has wrestled with news stories about his attitudes toward women, including those about a 1977 interview with Oui Magazine in which he boasted of group sex and drug use -- stories he now says were inflated to promote his body building and the movie "Pumping Iron."

But after his debate performance, politicos and voters again were talking about Schwarzenegger's comments about "Terminator 3" to Entertainment Weekly. "How many times do you get away with this, to take a woman, grab her upside down, and bury her face in a toilet bowl? I wanted to have something floating in there," the magazine quoted him as saying this year. "The thing is, you can do it, because in the end, I didn't do it to a woman; she's a machine! We could get away with it without being crucified by who-knows-what group."

The campaign has tried to use Schwarzenegger's wife, Maria Shriver, to reach out to women voters. Speaking earlier this week to the Commonwealth Club of California, Shriver said her husband "always treated me as an equal. He's respected me."

"There is no doubt in my mind that if Arnold wins this race, women will be visible in every level of government. He will fight for equal pay for equal work . . . he will talk about issues that affect women," she said.

But pollster Mark Baldassare of the Public Policy Institute of California said Schwarzenegger's comments this week could still affect his chances on Oct 7.

"It wasn't an exchange that went well for Arnold," he said. "It didn't help (him) with the efforts that all Republicans need to make -- convincing women voters that he was a different type of Republican."

Chronicle staff writers Lynda Gledhill, James Sterngold, Zachary Coile, Peter Fimrite and Anastasia Hendrix contributed to this report.

©2003 San Francisco Chronicle

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