NEW YORK - Billionaire Warren Buffett on Wednesday delivered a sales pitch to some of the biggest bond underwriters in America on behalf of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed debt-refinancing bonds.

The meeting at the swank Ritz Carlton Hotel was called to rally support on Wall Street for $15 billion in bonds California would sell if voters approve Schwarzenegger's two budget-related propositions, 57 and 58, on Tuesday's ballot.

Although California tax-free bonds always tend to sell well, there has been some skepticism about these because they would be sold to retire debt, not invest in roads, water projects or other civic improvements.

At a private lunch co-hosted with Schwarzenegger, Buffett gave a carefully choreographed performance designed to also give the two propositions a final boost with voters.

He told the investors - and journalists allowed in for just that part of the meeting - that California is being rescued much the way President Franklin D. Roosevelt rescued the Depression-ravaged and dispirited nation upon taking office in 1933.

"It was one of the great turnaround stories of all time," he said of Roosevelt's performance. "Arnold has just finished 100 days yesterday, and he has replicated in Sacramento what Franklin D. Roosevelt did in Washington.

"People in California started to believe in themselves again and believe in their state again. The most important thing he has done is he has brought people together. He's got people working together that were trying to cause each other trouble six months ago, three months ago."

Roosevelt's first 100 days in office, when he persuaded Congress to pass a wide array of bold reforms to restore confidence in the nation's finances and put people to work, are widely regarded among the most impressive first few months of any president in history.

Schwarzenegger clearly enjoyed the comparison.

"I never heard that one before," he said with a sly smile on his face as reporters tossed questions his way as he left the 90-minute meeting. "It feels good when someone compliments you. There's no two ways about that."

Buffett, one of the world's richest men, is a billionaire more than 30 times over and considered one of the shrewdest financial minds around. And although the official invitations came from Schwarzenegger's office, Buffett was instrumental in rounding up a guest list that included presidents and chairmen from companies such as Goldman Sachs & Co., Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., Bank of New York Capital Markets, Merrill Lynch & Co., and Morgan Stanley.

Not everyone shares his boundless optimism about the bond measure, however. Though most of the bankers and investors who left the meeting declined to talk with reporters, a few said they were impressed with Schwarzenegger and his decisive action.

And at a Sacramento Press Club lunch a day earlier, Democratic state Treasurer Phil Angelides, who works regularly with and is widely respected by many of these same Wall Street leaders, said Schwarzenegger has not been honest with voters.

"I do not believe that the governor's campaign has been fair or truthful when he talks about his bond and budget plans," Angelides said. "The facts don't square with what he says. He said that this is consolidating old debt. It's not. There's new debt.

"His own budget calls for using $3 billion of the bond proceeds for next year. ... I don't believe the governor has been truthful about the choices that Californians really have."

Angelides has continued to campaign against the bond measure, arguing in speeches and newspaper opinion pieces that Schwarzenegger has "taken the cheap way out ... borrowing against our future instead of asking how we can build our future."

The treasurer has argued that the deficit bond would increase California's debt by 46 percent in one fell swoop, costing the state annually enough to restore cuts the governor has proposed this year for colleges and universities. The $4 billion in interest the state will pay on the bond, he said this week, "would alone be enough to construct 400 new elementary schools."

The comments from Angelides, who has said California would be better off raising taxes on the wealthy and not incurring debt that doesn't provide the state with tangible assets, were sneered at by members of Schwarzenegger's team.

Mike Murphy, the Washington political consultant who puts out Schwarzenegger's campaign commercials and came along for the trip, called Angelides "a beacon of political ambition standing apart and making political moves voters don't find very credible."

"He's in a time warp for his next campaign when everyone else is trying to turn the state around," he said.

Angelides, who is considering a run for governor in 2006, has said many times that he feels it's his responsibility as state treasurer to talk about what he believes are the pitfalls of Schwarzenegger's approach.

Schwarzenegger's appearance with the bankers came at the end of four days of meetings in Washington and New York in which the Republican governor and his staff were able to use both California and national media to put out his message that he is taking bold, decisive steps to cure California's budget and economic woes.

With TV cameras and reporters lined up, waiting for Schwarzenegger and Buffett to emerge from a hotel elevator so the meeting could begin, the two strode down a hallway together and the instant they got in camera range, Schwarzenegger started waving his arms in conversation with Buffett and suddenly repeated the words "buying, buying, buying."

It was exactly what the Hollywood-trained politician wanted to convey - that investors were abuzz about scooping up $15 billion worth of tax-free California bonds if voters give the go-ahead.

Before leaving New York and heading back to California, a confident Schwarzenegger predicted a big victory on Tuesday, when most of the nation -- California included - will be watching multistate presidential primary elections.

"For the rest of the country," Schwarzenegger said, "March 2 means Super Tuesday. For us, of course, it means Super Comeback Tuesday because we know we're going to win this, even though it's a big struggle."