Garry South, the Democratic governor’s chief strategist, argues that the prospective Republican candidate for 2006 will be too thin-skinned to make it. Subhed: “Hypersensitivity doesn’t play well in politics.” The actor is also said to have a “swollen” ego. But South’s boss has “famously thin skin,” and tends to brag about things like how he personally kept the lights on in California, and he got elected governor twice. . . . Maybe I’m reading too much into this column, but it sounds as though South is using the L.A. Times to tell Scwarzenegger that if he runs, there’s going to be a lot of mud thrown at his personal life. I doubt that will intimidate him, but it’s weird to see a paper let itself be used in this sleazy fashion.