RIVERSIDE – For more than a decade, Christine Bernich has stood on the sidelines of democracy and watched career politicians with disdain. All talk, she said, no action. Now, the 28-year-old Riverside mother of two is gearing up to cast her first vote for a newcomer who she thinks will flex more political muscle than mouth.

“All I know is I’m going to vote for Arnold,” Bernich said Thursday at an Arnold Schwarzenegger get-out-the-vote rally in front of Riverside City Hall. “I think Arnold is already doing things before he says them.”

Schwarzenegger’s hopes of becoming California’s next governor may rest in the hands of voters like Bernich. As a political novice with no base of support, the moderate Republican is trying to emulate former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, who was elected after he successfully galvanized new voters.

To energize voters like Bernich, Schwarzenegger came to Riverside on Thursday to kick off a strategic get-out-the-vote campaign, telling several hundred people gathered outside City Hall that millions of Californians “have not voted before because they are not registered. We have to bring them in.”

Faced with the need to rouse apathetic Californians, Schwarzenegger has launched a massive voter-registration campaign using radio ads, television commercials and personal appeals.

“I think it could easily be the difference between victory and defeat,” said Schwarzenegger campaign manager George Gorton. “Every extra vote could make a huge difference.”

Like Ventura, the former professional wrestler who stunned the political establishment in 1998 by toppling two prominent candidates to become Minnesota’s governor, Schwarzenegger is trying to position himself as the antidote to career politicians.

In that election, Ventura managed to cobble together a coalition of young, new and independent voters who gave him the 56,363 votes he needed to win.

Ventura deftly used the state’s system of allowing residents to register to vote on Election Day. Exit polling showed that most of the 330,000 residents who used same-day voter registration cast ballots for Ventura.

“New voters are absolutely crucial to Schwarzenegger because he needs people from outside the traditional political process to win,” said Brown University political-science Professor Darrell West, the author of “Celebrity Politics.” “He needs to assemble an unconventional coalition; that was the secret of Jesse Ventura’s success.”

While Schwarzenegger may try to duplicate the Ventura revolution, he faces serious obstacles.

First and foremost, California does not allow voters to sign up to vote on Election Day. That means Schwarzenegger must persuade people to both register by the state’s Sept. 22 deadline, and then return to the polls Oct. 7 for the recall election.

“Any time you add an extra step for uninvolved people, you are reducing considerably the result,” said University of Virginia political-science Professor Larry Sabato.

So far, Schwarzenegger’s attempts to energize disaffected Californians do not appear to be resonating. Figures released last week by California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley showed no major influx of new voters. That may have sparked the actor’s concerted new voter-registration campaign

Secondly, Ventura ran as a maverick who was shunned by the political establishment, while Schwarzenegger’s populist claims are suspect because he is quickly becoming the Republican establishment candidate.

While Ventura shunned career political consultants, Schwarzenegger has embraced the state’s leading GOP strategists. While Ventura drew scoffs from party bosses, Schwarzenegger has been embraced by Republican leaders, and has surrounded himself with traditional advisers like former Secretary of State George Shultz.

“Ventura was the outsider and Schwarzenegger has been scripted as the outsider, but he’s very much a Hollywood production as opposed to the real thing,” said Lawrence Jacobs, a political-science professor at the University of Minnesota. “I think that’s going to make a real difference in attracting new voters who want something genuinely different.”

Thursday, Schwarzenegger spent a few minutes in a GOP registration booth talking to the few people who made it through the rope line to register. But he spent as much time smiling for television cameras and autographing items, including a recent Time magazine that featured him on the cover — and a baseball.