Warren Beatty: "We are not the governor's dumbbells."

Warren Beatty: I don't want to run for Calif gov.

Sat May 21, 6:47 PM ET

BERKELEY, Calif. (Reuters) - Actor Warren Beatty, who has been considered a potential candidate for California governor, said on Saturday he does not want to run in next year's election, even as he lashed out against incumbent Arnold Schwarzenegger's policies.

Beatty, invited to speak to graduates of the University of California at Berkeley's public policy school, has never held public office, but he has been a trusty supporter of Democratic presidential candidates for decades. In recent months, the two movie stars have sparred in separate public appearances that hinted at a possible political showdown.

"I'm an opponent of (Schwarzenegger's) muscle-bound conservatism with longer experience in politics than he has," the star of the political satire "Bulworth" said at the commencement ceremony.

"And although I don't want to run for governor, I would do one hell of a lot better job than he's done," the 68-year-old actor said. "I could name you a lot of Democrats who would be so much better than I would, and maybe even a few Republicans."

No clear Democratic front-runner has emerged to challenge the Austrian-born Schwarzenegger in the November 2006 gubernatorial election. State Treasurer Phil Angelides has asked for his party's nomination, and producer Rob Reiner has received high marks in the polls.

In a fiery and overtly political speech, Beatty called for higher taxes on the rich, if only temporarily, to close the state's budget gap, as well as for public financing of elections.

He said Schwarzenegger, a former bodybuilder and star of "The Terminator" movies," was playing politics in a bid to prepare himself for a run for president.

"It's not fooling anybody to be running around raising money from Wall Street, K Street and rich Republicans all over the country," he said. "We are not the governor's dumbbells."

Before Schwarzenegger could throw his hat into the ring, Congress would have to pass an amendment to the U.S. Constitution allowing a foreign-born American to run for president. Three-fourths of the states would also have to ratify the amendment.

Margita Thompson, Schwarzenegger's press secretary, took a jab at Beatty's age. "I'm sure it's not personal," she said. "Warren's just mad because he's afraid they're cutting off his
Social Security."