California governor attacks Arnie

Mr Schwarzenegger continues to attract large crowds

The governor of California, Gray Davis, has made his strongest attack yet on Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Hollywood actor tipped to replace him.

Mr Davis said allegations of past sexual misconduct by Mr Schwarzenegger made him unfit to govern.

Two more women have accused Mr Schwarzenegger of sexually harassing them, days after he publicly apologised for "bad behaviour" towards other women in the past.

In a special election on Tuesday, voters in California will decide whether to oust Mr Davis, a Democrat, who is being challenged because of dissatisfaction over his handling of the state's economy - the fifth largest in the world.

Electing a governor who may have committed a crime will certainly distract the state from the work it has to do Governor Gray Davis

The second part of the ballot lists 135 replacement candidates - of whom Mr Schwarzenegger, a Republican, is the clear frontrunner.

But his campaign has been dogged in recent days by a stream of allegations that he had harassed women on film sets and in interviews, and by accusations that he once praised Hitler.

"I ask you to think long and hard about the events of the past week," Mr Davis told a women's forum in Oakland on Saturday. "Some of these events are clearly a crime.

"Electing a governor who may have committed a crime will certainly distract the state from the work it has to do."

Groping allegations

Mr Schwarzenegger, at a rally on Saturday, said his opponents were "out to torpedo my campaign".

"All I can tell you is if it's Nazi stuff, if it's women's stuff, if it's how I do business, any kinds of these things, it's all about trying to attack me," he said.

Mr Schwarzenegger has strenuously denied allegations that he had once admired Hitler.

The latest womanising allegations resurfaced at a news conference, a day after the Los Angeles Times quoted six women who said they had been fondled by the star.

A former TV station intern told reporters that Mr Schwarzenegger had groped her when she was showing him around a studio 25 years ago.

Later, a radio presenter claimed the actor had fondled her ankles and knees while she was interviewing him.

The actor-turned-politician said no one had ever confronted him.

"If they'd said to me how dare you, I could have apologised right there and then," he said.

On Thursday, Mr Schwarzenegger did admit to behaviour which "offended people" after the Los Angeles Times reported that he had sexually harassed and groped women over a 25-year period.

"Yes, it is true that I was on rowdy movie sets and I have done things that were not right, that I thought were playful but now I recognise that I have offended people," he said.