California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger congratulates Iris Kyle after she won the Miss International body building competition during the Arnold Sports Festival Friday, March 6, 2009, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Friday that Ohioans shouldn't worry about worsening economic conditions.
"Never worry. Never worry about anything," he said as he left a fundraiser for an After-School All-Stars program, the national after-school program he founded in 1992.
Ohio's unemployment rate spiked to 8.8 percent in January, the highest level in more than two decades. In Schwarzenegger's home state of California, the January unemployment rate jumped to 10.1 percent, the state's highest jobless reading in 25 years.
Schwarzenegger's communication director Matt David said the governor was not addressing the economy when he made the response. He said reporters had asked the governor about six different questions at once and he "gave a blanket statement to the journalists not to worry" but was not addressing any specific question.
Schwarzenegger was in town to attend the Arnold Sports Festival, an annual event that began as a smaller bodybuilding competition won by Schwarzenegger in 1970. He was expected to tour the exhibition portion of the sports festival Saturday.
