"There is a functionality gap in the Microsoft lineup, " says Warren Wilson, an analyst with Summit Strategies in Kirkland, Wash.

CNN: Microsoft introduces wireless server

The actor may have oodles of media coverage, economic advice from Warren Buffett, a wife from Kennedy stock and an astute campaign team inherited from Pete Wilson, the last Republican governor of California, but the Field poll gives him 25% of the vote, five points behind Mr Davis's far-from-electrifying deputy, Cruz Bustamante.

ECONOMIST: Arnold Schwarzenegger