Don't worry, be Arnold: Now he's scaring the heck out of those who live in Ohio

The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Friday that Ohioans shouldn't be overly concerned about worsening economic conditions.

The governor made the remark during his annual appearance at the Arnold Sports Festival (linked here) in Columbus.

The state's unemployment rate spiked to 8.8 percent in January, the highest level in more than two decades years. In Schwarzenegger's home state of California, the unemployment rate jumped to 10.1 percent in January, the state's first double-digit jobless reading in 25 years.

"Never worry. Never worry about anything," he said in response to a reporter's question as he left a fundraiser for his national after-school program.

The event at a downtown hotel was attended by about 150 people, including Schwarzenegger's brother-in-law Anthony Shriver, actress Lindsay Price of NBC's "Lipstick Jungle" and mixed martial arts fighter Randy Couture.

Schwarzenegger, a former champion bodybuilder, attended the fundraiser for the local After-School All-Stars program (linked here) at the hotel across from the Ohio Statehouse. He planned to appear at a bodybuilding competition elsewhere in the city later in the night.

Schwarzenegger founded the national after-school program in 1992 as a way to provide tutoring services and sports to at-risk middle school students. It serves about 70,000 children in 13 cities.

The governor was expected to tour the exhibition portion of the sports festival Saturday. The annual fitness event began as a much smaller bodybuilding competition that Schwarzenegger won in 1970.