MIAMI -- Californians might be used to having a former action hero for a governor. They might not laugh when he repeats his famous movie lines anymore. They might not even bother to whip out their camera phones when he walks by.
In Florida, however, Arnold Schwarzenegger is still a movie star.
He arrived in Miami on the last day of Gov. Charlie Crist's summit on climate change, missing a roundtable discussion he was scheduled to host by about an hour.
In "the Governator's" absence, Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp tried to make the best of things by applauding the business leaders for their work.
"'This is fahn-tahstic,'" Kottkamp quipped in the famous accent.
Schwarzenegger's luncheon speech was peppered with references to his past life, none of which were lost on the eager crowd of about 600 academics, activists, and policymakers.
His concluding line -- "We have to say, 'Hasta la vista, baby' to greenhouse gases" -- brought down the house.
He drew the same response when he appeared on stage at a press conference and referred to himself and Crist as "the twins," another movie reference, and told Crist that it was really he who was the action hero.
As Crist signed executive orders to reduce carbon emissions, Schwarzenegger delivered a quick lesson on how to simultaneously sign the orders and smile at the television cameras crowded in front of him.
Not only did Crist take it to heart, but so did John Ashton, the United Kingdom's special representative for climate change, who was also there to sign a pact in front of the television cameras.
When it was Ashton's turn, he mugged like a pro.
(Ashton was so caught up in the pop-culture references that when it was his turn to speak, he referred to the governors as "action heroes" and ended with "Now I hope I've got this right: 'You ain't seen nothing yet.'")
The crowd was insatiable. When the forum opened for questions, one attendee asked Schwarzenegger how he liked Florida and whether he would be back.
Schwarzenegger said he loved Florida and always has.
"So you'll be back?" the attendee prompted.
"I'll be back," Schwarzen- egger said.
"People usually pay for that line," he added.
Then he delivered it, dead-on, again.
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