Marching on the Capitol he hopes to claim in the recall election, Arnold Schwarzenegger said he sensed “an unbelievable momentum” Sunday, despite new allegations of sexual harassment and signs of a tightening race. The embattled incumbent, Gov. Gray Davis, signed a law making California the largest state to require employer-paid health care.

A poll released over the weekend found Schwarzenegger’s lead among replacement candidates waning with news of harassment claims, but the Republican remained ahead of the pack and voters still favored removing Davis from office in Tuesday’s election.

Schwarzenegger did not address the allegations during his march and rally at the Capitol, his only scheduled public appearance Sunday, but said Davis “has terminated opportunities, and now it’s time to terminate him.”

“Please bring me the broom,” the Republican told a rally crowd of nearly 5,000. “We are here to clean house.”

Schwarzenegger’s opponents and supporters alike held signs referring to the harassment allegations, from “No groper for governor” and “Say no to predators” to “Gray groped government” and “Gray groped our assets.”

Four more women surfaced to accuse Schwarzenegger of groping, spanking or touching them inappropriately, bringing the total to 15 since a Los Angeles Times story Thursday detailed six claims of harassment between 1975 and 2000.

The Times reported Sunday on the latest group, which included an unidentified 51-year-old woman who said Schwarzenegger pinned her to him and spanked her repeatedly three years ago at a Los Angeles postproduction studio.

Three other women named by the Times said Schwarzenegger fondled them in separate incidents outside a Venice gym in the mid-1980s, at a bar in the late 1970s and on the set of the movie “Predator” in 1986, respectively.

Schwarzenegger spokesman Sean Walsh dismissed the accounts of three of the women as untrue. He said the actor had no recollection of the alleged gym incident.

‘Made-up stories’

In a “Dateline NBC” interview aired Sunday evening, Schwarzenegger said of the allegations, “a lot of it is made-up stories. I’ve never grabbed anyone and pulled up the shirt and grabbed the breast and stuff like that.”

But when asked if he denied all the stories about grabbing, he said, “No, not all. But I’m just saying this is not me. What I am is someone that sometimes makes outrageous jokes, someone that is out and says sometimes crazy things that may be offensive because there is a certain atmosphere.”

Davis revs up

Davis, who has said he had nothing to do with the harassment allegations, said they indicated “serious problems” with Schwarzenegger’s behavior and questioned his ability to govern.

“Are all 15 women and their families lying?” the Democrat told reporters during brief remarks made at a Los Angeles ceremony where he signed the employee health care bill into law.

Davis predicted the law would provide health insurance to nearly 1.1 million working Californians who do not currently receive job-based coverage. Though small businesses are exempted, the measure requires most employers to pay for their employees’ health care.

“Today we take a bold step to reform health care,” Davis said at a ceremony, attended by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, actor Danny Glover and labor leaders.