Arnie v. Arianna

Agreed: Californians are pissed off. Facing a $38 billion deficit, over a million of them have signed a petition to have Gov. Gray Davis (in office only nine months) recalled. But will they be better off with any of the nearly 200 wannabe politicos who've signed up to run in the recall? Having lived through Minnesota's Ventura Years--where the disgruntled previous-non-voter segment carried the ex-wrestler into the Summit Avenue Governor's Mansion--I fail to see how electing Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gary Coleman, Larry Flynt, or watermelon-smashing comedian Gallagher is going to do anything but shift responsibility for the state's financial shitstorm onto someone even less qualified to deal with it.

The media is gobbling up the Schwarzenegger candidacy, salivating at the chance of another Jesse Ventura to boost their newsstand sales: Time gave this retrograde Reaganite a cover story this week. Like Ventura's much-publicized babblings--how he'd like to be reincarnated as a brassiere, how he had sex at a Nevada brothel, then agreed to leverage the fact in advertisements for the The Moonlite Bunny Ranch--Schwarzenegger has a few of his own. In the just re-issued 1977 film Pumping Iron, which features Arnie smoking a joint between reps, he expounds on his taste in women: "I like them with black hair, with brown hair, with red hair, with big breasts, with little breasts, with a big ass, with a little ass." (No wonder George W. Bush says that he thinks Arnold would "make a good governor.") Politically, little is known about Schwarzenegger's stances; two indicators: he voted for Proposition 187, the 1994 ballot measure to deny basic social services to illegal immigrants; its architect, former Governor Pete Wilson, now heads Arnie's election campaign.

Rising to the top of a field dominated by ex-pornstars, athletes, and entertainers is someone who might actually do a decent job, political commentator Arianna Huffington. Mounting a grassroots campaign, she promises, "I will conduct no polls. I will run no attack ads. I will always tell you the truth and I will give it to you straight." An excerpt from her speech announcing her candidacy:

Let me start with a few words about the extraordinary process that has brought us to this point. My Democratic friends say that this recall is a right-wing power grab, backed by those who want a backdoor way to overturn an election they lost.

And you know what? Those friends are right. There are indeed a lot of sore losers here using big money to try to overturn the defeat they suffered in November.

And there is nothing more laughable than hearing Republican leaders lay the blame for California's economic troubles solely at the feet of Gray Davis while conveniently ignoring the orgy of fiscal irresponsibility that the White House and the Republican Congress are presiding over.

Let's get real: as ineffectual as Davis may be, there can be no doubt that it is the Bush administration, with its tax cuts for the wealthy, its perverted economic priorities, and its cozy relationships with crooked energy companies like Enron that has led California to the brink of financial disaster.

It was George Bush, who insisted on another round of tax breaks for the wealthy and fought against real assistance to the states. And it was George Bush who lined the pockets of millionaires while letting states like California choose between cutting kindergarten and laying off 3,000 teachers...

A new CNN poll puts Schwarzenegger in the lead, with 42 percent of the vote, if the election were held today. If you'd like to support Huffington's progressive, grassroots campaign, click here.