(Merc) On the eve of a major protest against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, representatives of the state's largest nurses union vowed to step up their demonstrations against the Republican governor and his "cynical agenda of brainwashing."

At a news conference Monday, Rose Ann DeMoro of the California Nurses Association predicted that at least 5,000 and possibly as many as 10,000 protesters would be on hand outside the Ritz-Carlton hotel in San Francisco on Tuesday night, where Schwarzenegger will be hosting a major fundraiser on behalf of four major government reform proposals he hopes to qualify for a special election next fall.

While the nurses and members of several public employee unions have been staging noisy protests against the Republican governor for months, DeMoro said she expected the San Francisco demonstration to be the largest yet.