If there's doubt Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's special-election push is in big trouble, foes in the Bay Area plan to crush it today.

Even a conservative GOP group joined the opposition as traditional Democratic constituencies Monday prepared a massive protest outside a scheduled Schwarzenegger fund-raiser tonight at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in San Francisco...

Even traditional GOP supporters — firefighters and law enforcement officers — are joining a string of growing protests against the governor's proposals....

Though the once highly popular governor is raising   tens of millions of dollars to wage battle as a self-described champion of voters and foe of lawmakers and the status quo, his ratings are slipping in polls as his opponents build huge war chests themselves to depict him as now pandering to big-industry contributors.

"You can join Arnold, if you've got the bucks," said Jamie Court of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.