Schwarzenegger Announces : Running for CA Gov.

Which is why I'm amazed people are still trying to throw some lame groping and pot puffing from the 70's out, thinking it makes any difference.

Calif. Recall Not Just Political Novelty

Thursday August 7, 2003 11:49 PM


By MICHELLE LOCKE

Associated Press Writer

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) - What began as yet another political novelty from the nation's most populous state has morphed into a spectacle remarkable even by California standards.

With everyone from Arnold Schwarzenegger to porn prince Larry Flynt jumping into the race to recall beleaguered Gov. Gray Davis, the reality TV show that has commandeered California politics has turned permanently, seriously weird.

``Sadly,'' Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Wednesday as she ruled out running, California is ``going to be engaged in an election that is becoming more and more like a carnival every day.''

And that was before Schwarzenegger shocked even his own closest political advisers by announcing on ``The Tonight Show'' that he was getting in the race.

It's hard to look at California's election slate without giggling - or panicking. Under the recall law, drafted during a wave of populism in 1911, it takes only $3,500 and signatures from 65 voters to run. The election is set for Oct. 7, but a slew of court challenges could delay or even call the whole thing off.

Potential candidates so far include a lady selling thong underwear and a motorcyclist who hopes to legalize pet ferrets. And the 99 Cents Only stores in Los Angeles are running a promotion promising to pay the filing fee and gather signatures for any 99-year-old who'd love to be gov.

Kind of makes wrestler Jesse ``The Body'' Ventura - who did, after all, serve as a small-city mayor before becoming governor of Minnesota - look like a political veteran.

But there's serious anger underlying the festival atmosphere. This is an electorate that in recent years has endured an energy crisis and a battering of its high-tech economy and now faces the prospect of higher taxes and fees.

``California's law has turned something important into a circus,'' said Brian Rosman, a tourist from Newton, Mass., visiting San Francisco on Thursday. ``The problems are tax revenues, the huge corporate manipulation of the energy crisis a few years ago, the decline in the high-tech world. Those problems don't get solved by getting a new governor.''

The people actually running state government have struggled, too. The state went a month without a budget as lawmakers squabbled before passing a compromise bill in July that includes billions in IOUs.

Still, it's likely one-liners will trump the bottom line, at least for now.

It was a gift to headline writers and late-night comedians around the world when the the star of a movie called ``Total Recall'' turned into ``The Running Man.'' And while most politicians must content themselves with Sunday morning talk shows, all Schwarzenegger had to do was go across town to chat with fellow celebrity and pal Jay Leno.

``It's the most difficult decision I've ever made in my entire life,'' he told the ``Tonight'' host, ``except for the one in 1978 when I decided to get a bikini wax.''

Actors have turned politician before, but some students of the craft wonder whether Ah-nuld will have the off-screen charisma of former California Gov. Ronald Reagan.

``In 'Kindergarten Cop,' he played a cop who takes over a classroom full of 5- and 6-year-olds - all of whom are too silly and immature to understand they should be afraid of him,'' wrote San Francisco Chronicle movie critic Mick LaSalle in Thursday's paper. ``I imagine the press conferences in Sacramento might look something like that.''

Hustler publisher Flynt, paralyzed by a bullet from a white supremacist, also a declared candidate, urged Californians to ``vote for the smut-peddler with a heart.''

``I may be paralyzed from the waist down,'' said Flynt, ``but unlike Gray Davis, I'm not paralyzed from the neck up.''

For a while, the Democratic posse looked pretty tight. But the solidarity buckled in the face of a potential Schwarzenegger juggernaut shortly after Feinstein - who survived her own grueling recall election as mayor of San Francisco - said she wouldn't join the race. Urged on by other Democrats, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante - the state's leading Hispanic politician - announced his run.

``The Terminator'' had the opposite effect on a fellow Republican: U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, the car alarm magnate who spent $1.7 million of his own fortune to make the recall happen, bowed out Thursday, crying at what was supposed to be the official launch of his campaign.

Tourists waiting for San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to open on Thursday called the recall a circus, an aberration, ``a sad thing.''

``Coming from the East Coast, we're looking at California saying `What's going on?''' said Dina Haskal of Somerset, N.J. ``We are scratching our heads.''

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003

Biographical information on Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor and gubernatorial candidate

The Associated Press Thursday, August 7, 2003

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(08-07) 02:17 PDT (AP) --

NAME: Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger

AGE-BIRTHDAY: 56. Born July 30, 1947.

HOMETOWN: Thal, Styria, Austria. Became a U.S. citizen in 1983.

EDUCATION: Graduated from University of Wisconsin-Superior, 1979.

CAREER: Worked as body builder and won Mr. Olympia title seven times, from 1970-1975 and in 1980. Starred in several films before breakout role in 1982's "Conan the Barbarian." Starred in "The Terminator" in 1984, "The Running Man" in 1987 and "True Lies" in 1994. Most recently appears in "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines."

POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: Successfully championed California Proposition 49, a state ballot initiative aimed at dedicating as much as $550 million annually to before- and after-school programs.

POLITICAL AFFILIATION: Republican. Headed President George H. W. Bush's Council on Physical Fitness.

FAMILY: Married to journalist Maria Shriver, daughter of Eunice Kennedy Shriver and former vice presidential candidate Sargent Shriver. The couple has four children, ranging in age from 5 to 13.

CHARITY WORK: Fundraiser and volunteer for Special Olympics.