Maybe he should have thought a little longer, a little harder, about running as a GOP candidate for Governor of California. Ever since Arnold Schwarzenegger ascended to that throne, he’s seen the Republican Party largely crumble around him — yet he’s managed to remain popular with voters. And he wishes the GOP would heed some of his lessons.

“Our party has lost the middle and we will not regain true political power in California until we get it back,” the celebrity politico told hundreds of Republicans at a state party convention on Friday. “The California Republican Party should be a right-of-center party that occupies the broad middle of California. That is a lush, green, abandoned political space,” he added. “It can be ours.”

He said he wanted the party to be much more welcoming to independents — and that it should open up its February presidential primary to independent voters.

According to the AP, Schwarzenegger recently proposed distilling the state GOP platform — the party’s statement of core values — into as little as a single page focusing on lowering taxes, limiting the size of government and building a strong national defense. His proposal made no mention of abortion, gay marriage or other social issues.