Perhaps the main difference between the two men is that everyone knew what Mr Reagan stood for, yet with less than a fortnight to go before the election Arnie's views on many subjects remain a well-kept secret.
We recently had our annual pay increase exercise at my university and it did a number of things, including hand delivering pay worksheets and emailing password-protected Excel spreadsheets to ensure that the amount of the raises given was a well-kept secret.
If he was initially a well-kept secret outside of the spotlight that surrounds Real in Madrid, the world at large sat up and took notice when he scored a stunning volley to round off Spain's 4-0 win over Ukraine in last summer's World Cup.
If that sounds a funny sort of privatisation, it is all the funnier because seemingly nobody, unless this is a very well-kept official secret, knows how the savings bank is going to operate from 2007 onwards, even while it is still under state management.