LOS ANGELES, 4 October 2003 — Action superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger barreled down California’s highways yesterday on a drive to become governor in special polls next week, but hit political potholes with allegations of sexual misconduct and past admiration for Hitler.

The former bodybuilder was met by huge crowds of supporters on the second day of his four-day bus tour, the morning after apologizing for crude behavior toward women over his long career in Hollywood and reports that he once said he admired the leadership of Adolf Hitler.

But Schwarzenegger was also expected to face organized protests by women’s groups, which have seized on the allegations that he groped and harassed women as recently as 2000.

Coalitions of women’s groups have promised to trail Schwarzenegger with protests and have launched a multimillion dollar ad campaign against him.

Thursday, Schwarzenegger kicked off his “California Comeback Express” in San Diego starting the final stretch of his sprint to oust and replace Governor Gray Davis in an Oct. 7 recall vote.

His first step was to acknowledge that he had acted inappropriately after The Los Angeles Times published interviews with six women who claimed he had groped them or made lewd comments.

“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 recognize that I have offended people.

“And those people that I have offended: I want to say I am deeply sorry about that and I apologize.” But while his regrets stunned political observers, he failed to impress women’s advocates.

“(Schwarzenegger) waited until he was outed on the front page of the LA times to apologize,” Jodie Evans, co-founder of CODEPINK Women for Peace said, calling his rude comments “just the tip of the iceberg.”

“He will learn what the difference between playful acts and harassment is,” she said.

Just hours after addressing the charges of sexual mistreatment, the Austrian-born son of a Nazi was forced to face allegations he had expressed an admiration for Hitler.

Late Thursday he denied an ABC television report that in a 1975 interview he had made favorable comments about the Nazi leader.

ABC said it had obtained a copy of an unpublished book proposal with quotes from an interview Schwarzenegger gave during the filming of the body-building documentary “Pumping Iron.” When asked who his heroes were, Schwarzenegger reportedly said: “I admired Hitler, for instance, because he came from being a little man with almost no formal education, up to power.

“I admire him for being such a good public speaker and for what he did with it,” he reportedly said. Schwarzengger responded by saying he could not recall those comments.

“I don’t remember any of those comments because I always despised everything that Hitler stood for,” he said.

The author of the book proposal, George Butler, who directed “Pumping Iron,” told ABC the quotes needed to be seen in context and that Schwarzenegger never made any anti-Semitic comments.

The flurry of accusations came just five days before the landmark vote that polls suggest will usher the movie icon into the California governor’s mansion.

Thursday, Schwarzenegger’s primary rival in the race said the allegations alone were enough to disqualify the movie star.

“These charges of sexual battery and harassment are serious and recent,” said Democratic Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante.

“These actions are more than just offensive,” Bustamante said, stressing that groping someone without permission is, in fact, a crime.