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Posted on 06/20/2003 1:00:20 PM PDT by knighthawk
California's beleaguered Governor Gray Davis, could be facing a new threat to his job, as Hollywood action star Arnold Schwarzenegger looks poised to muscle in on a bid to end his leadership.
As a drive to force early elections to end Davis' mandate just five months after he began his second term gathers momentum, the "Terminator" actor is emerging as a serious candidate to replace him, analysts said.
"The effort to recall the governor has suddenly got very serious and Davis and the Democrats are now treating it as such," said University of Southern California political expert Sherry Bebitch Jeffe.
"And as this happens, I think Schwarzenegger is looking very hard at (running). He's got what it takes: money, name recognition and the media seem to love him.
"It's certainly not an impossibility that he'll be a serious candidate, and quite frankly, looking down the road, he probably can't see himself going on to make 'Terminator 22' anyway," she said.
The so-called recall vote movement began slowly in February when a group of Republicans filed papers claiming the state's ballooning budget deficit and its 2000-2001 energy crisis made him unfit for to govern.
But while the drive for early polls started slowly, Davis is a very appealing target for political foes as the state budget deficit hits 38.2 billion dollars and his popularity rating plunges to an all-time low.
Recall organizers say they have already gathered around 795,500 of the 900,000-odd signatures needed to force a referendum on whether to hold fresh polls.
"It's never come this far before," Bebitch Jeffe said. "Davis has somehow managed to become the most unpopular governor of California in modern history."
A quiver of potential successors has emerged on both the Republican and the Democrat sides of the spectrum, but none is more tantalizing that the former Mr. Universe body-building champion and ardent Republican, Schwarzenegger.
When asked this week by the Entertainment Tonight television show whether he was interested in running for governor of the state once ruled by another ex-actor called Ronald Reagan, Arnie replied: "I am always interested."
And last week, the Austrian-born screen icon told Esquire magazine: "If the state needs me, and if there's no one I think is better, then I will run."
But Schwarzenegger advisor George Gorton said he would not decide whether to run or not until July 2, the release date of his latest sequel movie, "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," and that he would only do so if there were clear signs that he would win the signatures needed to stand.
But Schwarzenegger's apparent eye on the governorship of the most populous US state, which is also the world's fifth largest economy, is not new.
Rumours have circulated for years and he dabbled in politics in last November's congressional elections when he successfully sponsored a local bill to provide after-school child care.
But Schwarzenegger has said his family life and movie career come before politics and recently told TV Guide magazine he would only seek office if his wife Maria Shriver, a member of the Kennedy clan of Democrats, allowed him to.
Other possible candidates could include Republican Congressman and millionaire businessmen Darell Issa, Bill Simon, another rich Republican and former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, experts predict.
Apart from Davis' record unpopularity, the secret of the recall drive's success has been the 700,000 dollars sunk into it by Issa who fancies himself in the governor's office, political analysts said.
All senior Democrats in the state have however declined to run if a recall is held, as they present a united front in a bid to forestall a vote that could see the traditionally Democrat state go Republican.
"Right now, I think Democrats should fight the recall, because it is about injecting instability into a state," said California Democrat Nancy Pelosi, who is her party's Congressional minority leader.
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I hope a good solid republican with some talent shows up to this show! Otherwise, Cali may just get Arnold...who knows, he may do the job.
Folks, ya just can't make up stuff this good.
One entry found for tsunami.
Why is it they never refer to Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer as "millionaire" and "rich"? How about Teddy (the beached whale) Kennedy, Jon Corzine, Jay Rockefeller, etc.etc., , ad nauseum.
Oh wait...they're Democrats!
Amen...I knew I couldn't be the only Republican that voted no on that piece of pure welfare.
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