SACRAMENTO - Shrugging off doomsayers, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday night cast himself as California's consummate salesman with a singular ability to convince skeptical opponents, battered businesses and jaded voters to buy his call for fundamental reform of state government.

In his first State of the State address, Schwarzenegger vowed to ``blow up'' conventional thinking about revamping government and made an open plea for new ideas -- ``the more radical the better.''

His 27-minute speech was more than the traditionally bland statement of policy goals: It was a new call to arms by the charismatic former actor who used his international celebrity as a cornerstone of his commanding electoral victory last fall.

The new Republican governor pledged to sell Californians on his fiscal recovery plans -- and the world on the state as a good place to do business. ``If I can sell tickets to my movies like `Red Sonja' or `Last Action Hero,' you know I can sell just about anything,'' he joked.

To do so, Schwarzenegger is relying on the same mix of sweet talk and threats that has helped him win some early victories in Sacramento.

``He's playing to his strengths,'' said Jaime Regalado, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at California State University-Los Angeles. ``He's the Terminator who rode into town untarnished by the politics of the past with an ability to do what no other governors have done since the days of Hiram Johnson,'' the California governor who gave the state its recall and initiative provisions.

Like Johnson, Schwarzenegger plans to use the ballot box as a sword of Damocles that will hang over the heads of recalcitrant lawmakers. While the new governor expressed a willingness to compromise with the Democrat-controlled Legislature, the self-proclaimed ``people's governor'' left no doubt that he'll take his case to the voters if he doesn't get his way.

He called on lawmakers to pass sweeping changes in the complicated workers' compensation system by March 1 -- and vowed to put the matter before voters in November if they don't.

Similar threats have coaxed legislators into repealing an unpopular bill that gave illegal immigrants the right to get state driver's licenses, and into putting bond and spending-limit measures on the March ballot.

In many ways, Tuesday's event was the launching pad for the governor's next political battle. Schwarzenegger has already assembled the same campaign team that propelled him into office.

First up: Two ballot measures that would place new limits on state spending and allow California to sell $15 billion in bonds to help deal with its fiscal crisis.

Schwarzenegger urged legislators to join him in supporting the measures, saying rejection would usher in an era of ``economic chaos.''

``It's fair to characterize tonight's speech as the first effort of the spring campaign to win passage of the recovery plan in March,'' said Rob Stutzman, the governor's communications director. ``It will require the governor campaigning and expending political capital, but that's what he's ready and willing to do in order to succeed.''

While private polls show both measures winning early voter support, Stutzman said victory won't be assured unless the governor puts his political muscle behind the ballot measures.

``It's going to be a tough sell,'' said Democratic State Controller Steve Westly, who agreed to help lead the campaign and give it a bipartisan flavor.

Even if Schwarzenegger wins that battle, Democrats said the bigger fight will be over the more pressing problem facing state leaders: a budget shortfall the governor estimates at $15 billion, which he vows to close without raising taxes or cutting education.

Assembly member Jackie Goldberg called the governor ``long on rhetoric and short on details.''

``This guy only knows one mode so far and that's the campaign mode,'' said the Los Angeles Democrat. ``At some point he'll realize he's the governor, and that's what we're waiting for.''

The details will come Friday, when the governor must lay out in painful detail how he plans to close the budget gap when he unveils his first budget proposal. That document will provide Californians with a much more detailed look at the governor's priorities that will color the tone and tenor of the political debate ahead.

``There's no question that today he had an opportunity to present a positive approach to a very difficult situation,'' said Democratic consultant Gale Kaufman. ``But the budget he presents Friday is the teeth, and no campaign will succeed if the budget creates a dramatic hardship for real people.''