(Examiner) Financial District commuters should prepare for potential delays Tuesday, when a fund-raiser at a Nob Hill hotel for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to draw a large protest by nurses, teachers and firefighters angry at his administration's policies, police said.

The rally outside the Ritz Carlton Hotel is one in a series of statewide protests being organized by unions. They say that policies the governor claims will rein in the state's fiscal deficit will instead erode health care and education and are favors to big business interests who fork out up to $89,999 to attend Schwarzenegger soirées.

Emotional rallies in Orange County and San Jose in the past month have attracted between 1,000 and 4,000 protesters, and while crowd estimates were not known Sunday, event organizer Chuck Iverson of the California Nurses Association said San Francisco's liberal leanings could inspire a particularly large protest of the Republican governor.

Protesters are expected to arrive by private bus, from the Montgomery BART station and the California Street cable car, while overhead, an airplane will fly an anti-Arnold banner, Iverson said.

Police and the California Highway Patrol plan to maintain a large presence outside the hotel at 600 Stockton St. as demonstrators gather between 5 and 6 p.m. for the 6.30 p.m. dinner, said Central District police Sgt. Eddie Cheung.