It wasn't that any of the themes were particularly new. Like others before him, California's 38th governor used his first State of the State address to talk about creating jobs, streamlining the state bureaucracy, bolstering the business climate.

But there was something different going on Tuesday night at the Capitol, and it wasn't just the Arnold bobble-head pins on the lapels of Gov. Schwarzenegger's aides. While he said he was looking for "radical" ideas, he didn't propose any.

From the start of the speech, when Schwarzenegger joked that he had changed his mind and decided "to go back to acting," it was clear that California is in the grip of a salesman with a rare style, if not one pitching significantly different substance.

"If I can sell tickets to my movies like 'Red Sonja' and 'Last Action Hero,' you know I can sell just about anything," Schwarzenegger said at one point in his speech, as he promised to travel the world to generate jobs.

"I am a salesman by nature," he said, "and now most of my energies will go to selling California, and California is the easiest sell I've ever had."

What Schwarzenegger didn't say directly is that what he has to sell Californians right now is as unappealing as either of those two cinematic bombs.

"He's certainly friendly and he's a good salesman and people want to deal with him," said Sen. Kevin Murray, D-Culver City, dismissing what he said were largely Schwarzenegger's "retread Republican ideas."

"It makes us think about it, it makes us want to work with the guy. But we are not going to roll over for the same stuff," he said "He's going to have to do something new."

But first, Schwarzenegger has to clean up California's ongoing budget mess. He used the speech to begin pitching the state's voters on a proposed $15 billion debt-restructuring bond on the March ballot, an unpalatable measure aimed at shoring up the state's shaky budget. The alternative to passing it, he argued, would be "economic chaos" when a batch of past loans comes due in June.

He also sought to sell the spending cuts he will propose when he releases his first budget on Friday, saying the cuts are necessary because "a bankrupt California cannot provide services to anyone."

And he put the best possible spin on a proposal to raise college fees by as much as 10 percent by tying them to hikes in per-capita income. He argued the proposal will make the hikes "predictable."

Schwarzenegger is also vowing to overhaul the state's workers' compensation system, a complex policy goal that former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson also tackled. Schwarzenegger threw down the gauntlet to lawmakers, saying he'll take the issue to the ballot if they don't send him a bill he likes by March 1.

"You can do it," he said in an aside to Democratic Senate President Pro Tem John Burton.

On Tuesday night, it was possible to believe him. Republicans gushed afterward about his "star power" and infectious optimism. Even some Democrats unhappy with his "no tax" message had to concede that he delivered it with more than the usual quotient of Capitol charisma.

"He's very unique to the political process, which I think is always inherently good," said Don Novey, longtime Capitol advocate for the powerful California Correctional Peace Officers Association. "I don't really have a phrase for it. He's a virgin politician with a lot of life's experiences. He's a salesman, but I don't think that's going to be his primary asset."

That, he said, will be "bringing people together."

A year ago, as Gov. Gray Davis delivered what became his final State of the State address, the California Teachers Association bought television time for ads opposing classroom cuts, urging voters to tell Davis and lawmakers not to "force California into an education recession."

Schwarzenegger's budget proposal Friday is expected to include $2 billion less for K-14 education than would be required under Proposition 98, the constitutional amendment that sets a floor for education funding each year.

But the CTA, engaged in behind-the-scenes dialogue with the new administration, wasn't criticizing this time. Capitol political players said it wasn't only because California's newest governor came to power in such an unprecedented way.

"I think it's about communication," said Kevin Gordon, executive director of the California Association of School Business Officials. "The fact that this governor is really a people person and really reaches out to everyone creates a dynamic that should be more characteristic of governors, but isn't for some reason.

"We didn't see that kind of gregarious style with (former Govs. George) Deukmejian, Pete Wilson or Gray Davis."