Total Recall?

It's official - Arnold Schwarzenegger is a candidate for governor of California! And he only has to come in first place - with no majority and no runoff - in the October 7 election if Gray Davis is fired by a majority of voters. The press is actually portraying him as a "moderate Republican," but I've been led to understand that he has more in common politically with fellow Austrian right-winger Jeorg Haider. If ol' Schwarzie gets in, I think he'll become the first foreign-born governor of a U.S. state, as well as the first governor to hold dual citizenship.

Californians will actually have a choice among immigrant candidates. The Greek-born columnist Arianna Huffington, formerly the wife of tycoon Michael Huffington, threw her hat in the ring. A former conservative, Mrs. Huffington has grown increasingly progressive in her political leanings, quite possibly due to the fact the longer she's been in this country, the more she realizes how brutish American conservatism really is. So she will almost certainly make an attractive candidate; she has ideas, and she knows how to articulate them. (Please note that I did not make fun of her accent.)

Some of the native-born candidates are even more bizarre. The LA model Angelyne is running, as is Hustler publisher Larry Flynt. And while some (nominally) legitimate candidates like Bill Simon, who lost to Davis last year, are running, you also have Darrell Issa, the right-wing congressman behind the recall drive who got in trouble with the law a lot in his youth.

I keep wondering when David Crosby will announce his candidacy. :-D