“I always tell my wife, ‘I’m not switching this thing out for that; I’m just adding,’ ” Mr. Schwarzenegger said. “I read body building magazines, I read the movie magazines and I read the political magazines, so I cover myself.”

Image With Californias economic woes, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has no time for cigar breaks. Credit... Charles Ommanney/Getty Images

Early in his first term, he tried to use the ballot process to get tougher rules for teachers’ tenure, restrict political activity by unions, cap state spending and redraw legislative districts, all with the goal of reining in the power of elected Democrats and the public employee unions. But organized labor, most notably the teachers’ union, lobbied hard for the measures’ failure.

Now, he is again seeking to cap state spending  with a tax increase thrown in  and make changes to the lottery system. He also wants to move dedicated pools of money away from programs for the mentally ill and children into the general fund to plug large budget holes  actions that require voter approval and were part of a budget deal with lawmakers last month.

This go-round, the governor’s ballot efforts come with the blessing of some of the public employee unions. “These are different times,” said Gale Kaufman, a Democratic political consultant whose clients include the California Teachers Association. “He still has an amazing capacity to believe that he can sell anything to voters. I think that is a remarkable quality.”

Polls show that five of the six budget-related measures are trailing with voters. The sixth measure, which would bar legislators and state officers from getting a pay raise when there is a budget deficit, has the support of 72 percent of those polled by the California Field Poll.

The governor has spent much of the last month behind the scenes asking Hollywood executives and others for money to help pay for the campaign to pass the ballot measures, while he has let firefighters and teachers do much of the face-to-face campaigning on behalf of the measures. It is a jarring turnaround from the previous effort, when Mr. Schwarzenegger was the star of the campaign and the same firefighters and teachers were his enemies.