Schwarzenegger to run!!!

[Wulfman]

I think it is interesting that he won't need to please any "lobby"...

you should have heard the jokes around here: "history repeats itself, first german got their austrian, now the usa..."

mfg
wulfman

[Dr Mordrid]

News in from the California State Supreme Court;

It has decided NOT to intervene on behalf of Gov. Gray Davis and has dismissed all cases before it regarding the recall election.

Good for them

Dr. Mordrid

[SpiralDragon]

Originally posted by Gurm
Y'know, having a pretty honest guy in a government position... is that ALLOWED in California?

Gpar_

how can that be..... he is an actor... nothing honest there .... and an action hereo non the less....


no but seriously ... this has been brewing for such a long time... any one remeber "demolition man" staring stalone....


i also heard that there is a porn star running for the same office

[Dr Mordrid]

Hell.....Gary Coleman is running for it too...

Dr. Mordrid

[Brian R.]

I should E-bay my copy of Pumping Iron

[Strahd]

I just find it comical that 2 Arnolds are opposing each other. 2 Arnolds at either end of the scale.

All I have to say is may the best Arnold win.

[Jammrock]

Here's a summary of a CNN interview with Ah-nold:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/08/08/recall.arnold/index.html

One thing is for certain, he certainly knows what to say to make people want to vote for him. Things like, "I'm rich enough, so lobbyists won't bother me." And that he will concentrate on schools, getting businesses back to CA and finding jobs.

Definately what people want to hear from Ah-nold.

On a side note, if Arnold's is able to fix the $38 billion deficit (compared to a $9 billion surplus before Davis came into office), get jobs back and keep schools open and kids educated, the Republican's waste a potential presidential canidate. If any Rep. were to pull that off, he would be a shoe in for president in 2008. I guess Arnold could run for VP and help carry a Rep into office.

Jammrock

[paulcs]

Given the Vice President's primary responsibility, I doubt he could run for VP:

No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States.

In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation or inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what officer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.

Paul

[Dr Mordrid]

Well...he could run and win, but couldn't suceed to the the Presidency if anything happened. The sucession order after the VP runs like this;

Speaker of the House of Representatives (Rep. Dennis Hastert, 14th dist. Illinois)
President Pro Tempore of the Senate (Sen. Ted Stevens, Alaska)
Secretary of State (Gen. Colin Powel)
Secretary of the Treasury (John Snow)
Secretary of Defense (Donald Rumsfeld)
Attorney General (John Ashcroft)
Secretary of the Interior
Secretary of Agriculture
Secretary of Commerce
Secretary of Labor
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Secretary of Transportation
Secretary of Energy
Secretary of Education
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Secretary of Homeland Security

BTW: one thing I haven't heard as a plus for Arnold is his being an immigrant. In California the immegrant population is a HUGE percentage of the whole, and that may well play in his favor.

Dr. Mordrid

[Wulfman]

Originally posted by az
Hmmm... can any of the american MURCers explain why they think that an Actor would make a good politician? A manager, that I could understand, but do you think an actor is a good enough politician/manager to run a state?

arnold studied economics & business administration at one point and got his bachelor. might be useful now.

mfg
wulfman

[Dr Mordrid]

Arnold sure as hell couldn't do any worse than Gray Davis.

Even when California's largely self-imposed energy mess was ongoing and he was pushing for higher taxes to "solve it" almost every economist I heard or read said the situation was already turning around on its own and the high-price/long-term contracts with the energy producers would be wasted and just raise California's deficit. They were right.

Strike 1

Then in the middle of the recession this silly SOB went and gave sweetheart contracts to every public service union in the state to make sure he'd get re-elected in the last election. The deficits skyrocketed again.

Strike 2

Then everything went further to hell, the shenanigans became public and his ratings nosedived to 20% this week. The recall petitions sucess and the current California budget deficit hitting $38.2 billion USD just put the final nail in his political coffin.

Strike 3.....'yer OUTTA THERE!!

Dr. Mordrid

[KvHagedorn]

Originally posted by Dr Mordrid

BTW: one thing I haven't heard as a plus for Arnold is his being an immigrant. In California the immegrant population is a HUGE percentage of the whole, and that may well play in his favor.

You don't actually believe yourself when you say these things, do you? This is a strange and inconsequential commonality he shares with the millions of Mexicans who slipped through the border. How could they possibly identify with some white guy from Austria who is now richer than all of them put together?

[Dr Mordrid]

This has been a factor in elections before where large immegrant populations are in place and I don't see what's so special about California that would change it. Take that from someone who has been a campaign worker in several elections.

Dr. Mordrid

[paulcs]

Well, much of California's population is from somewhere else. On the other hand, much of of California's Spanish speaking population has been here for generations, and, of course, a fair amount of the actual immigrant population can't vote. The same holds true with the state's Asian population. Lt. Governer Cruz Bustamonte is a native Californian, while Governor Davis and Senator Barbara Boxer are from 3,000 miles away.

I don't think Arnold's status as an immigrant helps or hurts him in California. His status as a movie star is another matter. Given a very short campaign, he'll probably get a lot of the Spanish speaking and immigrant vote. If the campaign drags out until next year, he might still get a lot of the Hispanic vote if he shows some flexibility on immigration policy.

Interestingly enough, Arnold seems to move left where the heavily Catholic Hispanic population moves right. He is, or at least was, pro-choice and pro-gay rights (including, apparently, gay marriage). I've read he's pro-gun control as well. He claims to be "very, very conservative" on economic issues and appears to be interested in reversing the state's workers' compensation increases. He seems to be sitting on the fence about the family leave law. ("I would have to get into that.") On the other hand, he has spoken out for various education and afterschool programs. Some of this will hurt him in a protracted campaign, as he will lose many Republicans. His base might be moderate and/or star struck Democrats and Republicans who don't really give a damn about abortion, homosexuality, or guns. I know they're out there.

Paul