IN THE AFTERMATH of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s second State of the State Address, delivered early Wednesday evening in Sacramento, this much is apparent: Though nearly 14 months into the job, California’s Governator is no longer a political novice, but he is still a political novelty and must-see TV. California affiliates carried the big speech live and uninterrupted; C-SPAN ran it nationally.

The second reality: if you have bad news to “dump,” then Arnoldmania is the cover you want. Midway through the governor’s address, the Associated Press reported that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and his wife, Kimberly, a Court TV commentator and now a fixture on the New York social circuit, are divorcing. What might have been the lead story on local news–the Bay Area’s glamour couple bidding goodbye to their bicoastal marriage–instead was relegated to third place, behind the big doings in Sacramento and the San Francisco ’49ers cleaning house.