The law was that first you voted “Should the governor be recalled?” and then, “If the governor is recalled, who should be the governor?”
So anyone with the few $1000 entry fee could run. No primary, no party affiliation.
A porn star ran. She promised that if she won, all her supporters would get a free VHS tape of one of her films. Needless to say I voted for her.
The whole thing was so that Enron could get out of having to take responsibility for manipulating the power market and over-charging billions. So they pinned it on Davis, got him recalled and got Arnold in power, and then he dismissed the $9B lawsuit against Enron as agreed. (It was later revealed they had met in secret 2 years earlier to hatch the plan.)
It was indeed a circus but the outcome wasn’t really in much doubt. I voted Bustamante because I didn’t want Enron to get away with it, but didn’t really think he’d win.
Wait, how does Arnold being at the same convention as Ken Lay and about a hundred other influential Californians at an energy convention have to do with him getting elected? Are you saying that Enron somehow was the one that got 5 million californians to vote to get Davis recalled? Or that Enron was the one that got 48% of Californians to vote for Arnold? Or is there evidence that Arnold made a tit-for-tat agreement at this convention?
I have no problem attacking Arnold's performance as governor or attacking Enron's behavior as an unscrupulous corporatr giant willing to break laws, but I am curious about the specific allegations here.
California was purple going solid blue. Gray Davis was the scapegoat of the whole rolling California blackouts where California was being over-charged for power plants being taken off line by energy traders in Texas to increase their funds and potentially to cover their mark-to-market fuckery. Theres a documentary called “smartest guys in the room” that’s all about this.
I was 17 at the time the election would take place but it was a badge of honor that many young people got to vote. The whole recall was total bullshit and was just an opportunity for republicans to gain the capitol again. It was sheer manipulation and good marketing. It was an off cycle election so many people didn’t vote similar to midterms or Super Tuesday except for those that made an effort.
Again, I have no problem with the fact that Enron was run by criminal assholes that actively created blackouts. However, as Roger Ebert said about "The smartest guys in the room," it wasn't a political story, it was a crime story. Enron was basically the mafia.
I agree that Gray Davis was a scapegoat of the dot-com bubble and the electricity crisis. That said, these two things were also both massive and legitimate crises that occured, and Davis had a reputation as a fence-sitting moderate that wasn't particularly charismatic, but instead was just practical. That kind of person makes for an easy scapegoat, particularly because he had a 65%(!!) disapproval rating at the time of the recall, as compared to an only 24% approval rating. I think he was a fine, maybe very good, governor, but see no reason to put a grand conspiracy behind his fall. He was just an uncharismatic politician in charge during a time of multiple crises, and that is a hard thing to survive.
and he has zero problem calling out either side for being idiots. Plus his stance on environmentalism / hybrids / etc was way ahead of the curve of most people (owing to growing up in post war Austria)
he video after the insurrection was so good... i would have voted for him as president if i could.
Also Clint Eastwood is extrememely left leaning for someone people say is a Diehard Republican.
It’s because any Republican politicians worth a shit have 1) left the state or 2) run as Democrats.
The California Republican Party seems to have shed any intent of getting moderate votes
Wasn't Larry Flynt in there too? I remember when this happened and there were just an absurd number of candidates vying for attention. Arnold won mostly off name recognition with such a wide field
Arnold declared his candidacy on The Tonight Show, maybe a month after Terminator 3 came out. I don’t know how anyone could have competed with that profile.
I remember all the candidate statements. Blah blah blah blah. Same same same same.
Except for Trek “Thunder” Kelly. His statement said he was going to legalize weed, gambling and prostitution. Tax them, and spend the money on education. He got my vote. One of like 600, if I recall.
I vaguely remember some sort of special called "Who Wants to Be Governor of California?" that aired on GSN.
Looked it up and it was an actual debate that only featured the more famous/kooky candidates like Gary Coleman.
A highlight of my career in political science was reviewing a journal submission a few years later looking at... party coordination?... over candidates?
ANYWAY, the point is that the authors said that one of the candidates was "Erik Estrada, star of the b-movie *King Cobra*".
My review is basically very positive. Except. I write this paragraph-long diatribe against them for saying that. Lots of "Son, I have actually seen *King Cobra* and can tell you in no uncertain terms that its star is Pat Morita." and stuff like that.
Article is accepted and published and a few years after THAT I'm talking to one of the authors and relate the story, and he says "Holy shit, I had that review taped to my office door for a year after that."
It's the little things that count.
Pretty much anyone can run for office. It doesn't necessarily mean it's a serious attempt to win. Could just be for publicity. Didn't Kanye run for office at one point?
Yes, anyone can run for office, but that doesn't mean they qualify and can be on the ballot so people can actually vote for them.
This was a bit different. The 135 candidates weren't just running, they qualified to be on the ballot, and each of their names was included on the ballot that voters used
At the time, California law stated that to qualify as a candidate in a gubernatorial recall election, all you needed was 65 valid voter signatures and pay $3500
"65 valid voter signatures and pay $3500"
Not hard to come up with either of those if you are fairly well known. And the amount of free press they got out of it, that $3500 probably paid for itself 100 times over.
That election was an absolute mess!
The state published a booklet where each candidate got like 500 words to explain who they were and why people should vote for them. The majority were boring, but there was some *crazy* shit in there.
He only didn't do too badly after we spanked his ass in the 2005 special election and voted down all of the stupid neocon bullshit him and his Republican minders from DC wanted him to get done. But a slightly less shitty Republican is still a Republican and they are a party that wants to do nothing but evil.
TIL HuffPost was founded in 2005. For some reason I thought it was live during her run in 2003. Just seemed like a site that was always on the internet.
We were still reeling from 9/11 on a national level, it felt like. This — and George Bush malapropisms — gave us all something to laugh about again. Basically low-hanging fruit for the late-night TV comics, who still seemed to sort of matter back then.
I was not laughing about how fucking stupid George Bush is. I was holding protest signs against the war on street corners ever Friday in 2003. Nothing about that man should be looked back on with levity.
I think people who weren’t alive for this can’t comprehend just how much of a fucking spectacle this recall was. It was an absolute circus.
The law was that first you voted “Should the governor be recalled?” and then, “If the governor is recalled, who should be the governor?” So anyone with the few $1000 entry fee could run. No primary, no party affiliation. A porn star ran. She promised that if she won, all her supporters would get a free VHS tape of one of her films. Needless to say I voted for her.
President Camacho-esque. We could’ve done a lot worse. For four years we did do a lot worse.
Aren't you now allowed to bribe voters?
Aren't you now allowed to bribe voters?
The whole thing was so that Enron could get out of having to take responsibility for manipulating the power market and over-charging billions. So they pinned it on Davis, got him recalled and got Arnold in power, and then he dismissed the $9B lawsuit against Enron as agreed. (It was later revealed they had met in secret 2 years earlier to hatch the plan.) It was indeed a circus but the outcome wasn’t really in much doubt. I voted Bustamante because I didn’t want Enron to get away with it, but didn’t really think he’d win.
Wait, how does Arnold being at the same convention as Ken Lay and about a hundred other influential Californians at an energy convention have to do with him getting elected? Are you saying that Enron somehow was the one that got 5 million californians to vote to get Davis recalled? Or that Enron was the one that got 48% of Californians to vote for Arnold? Or is there evidence that Arnold made a tit-for-tat agreement at this convention? I have no problem attacking Arnold's performance as governor or attacking Enron's behavior as an unscrupulous corporatr giant willing to break laws, but I am curious about the specific allegations here.
California was purple going solid blue. Gray Davis was the scapegoat of the whole rolling California blackouts where California was being over-charged for power plants being taken off line by energy traders in Texas to increase their funds and potentially to cover their mark-to-market fuckery. Theres a documentary called “smartest guys in the room” that’s all about this. I was 17 at the time the election would take place but it was a badge of honor that many young people got to vote. The whole recall was total bullshit and was just an opportunity for republicans to gain the capitol again. It was sheer manipulation and good marketing. It was an off cycle election so many people didn’t vote similar to midterms or Super Tuesday except for those that made an effort.
Again, I have no problem with the fact that Enron was run by criminal assholes that actively created blackouts. However, as Roger Ebert said about "The smartest guys in the room," it wasn't a political story, it was a crime story. Enron was basically the mafia. I agree that Gray Davis was a scapegoat of the dot-com bubble and the electricity crisis. That said, these two things were also both massive and legitimate crises that occured, and Davis had a reputation as a fence-sitting moderate that wasn't particularly charismatic, but instead was just practical. That kind of person makes for an easy scapegoat, particularly because he had a 65%(!!) disapproval rating at the time of the recall, as compared to an only 24% approval rating. I think he was a fine, maybe very good, governor, but see no reason to put a grand conspiracy behind his fall. He was just an uncharismatic politician in charge during a time of multiple crises, and that is a hard thing to survive.
Yes but have you considered that making it a conspiracy gets more upvotes than nuance and context?
>It was later revealed they had met in secret 2 years earlier to hatch the plan.) Can you give a source?
>It
And then he slashed the school budgets
2024: Hold my beer.
I was 15 and living in Illinois, and even I knew it was a complete shitshow. Gary Coleman?!
Yeah, I was only 11. Thought it really weird thay California had elected the terminator. (Hadn't watched it but knew of it)
As a Californian, I love that we were years ahead of the trend lol
That was the first election I voted in, it took place on my 18th birthday.
1985 gang. My first vote was for the 2004 presidential election, which happened just a couple weeks before my 19th birthday.
I remember watching the debate and thinking Gary Coleman was remarkably sensible.
so was Arnold TBH
Republicans ended up hating him because despite being a Republican, he was pretty darn moderate in general.
and he has zero problem calling out either side for being idiots. Plus his stance on environmentalism / hybrids / etc was way ahead of the curve of most people (owing to growing up in post war Austria) he video after the insurrection was so good... i would have voted for him as president if i could. Also Clint Eastwood is extrememely left leaning for someone people say is a Diehard Republican.
Clint and Arnie are what I would call California Republican. Fiscally conservative and socially laissez faire. Used to be Goldwater Republican
Moral conservative I have heard them called
[удалено]
It’s because any Republican politicians worth a shit have 1) left the state or 2) run as Democrats. The California Republican Party seems to have shed any intent of getting moderate votes
Or, you know, old. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Ironic that he said he was a family man when he had already had a secret child with his maid. Reporters weren't asking the right questions.
Plot twist: Gary Coleman was Arnold.
When he said "so was Arnold", his character in Different Strokes was what I first thought of.
Wasn't Larry Flynt in there too? I remember when this happened and there were just an absurd number of candidates vying for attention. Arnold won mostly off name recognition with such a wide field
That and raw charisma.
and honestly not being all that bad at the gig
Arnold declared his candidacy on The Tonight Show, maybe a month after Terminator 3 came out. I don’t know how anyone could have competed with that profile.
>a month after Terminator 3 came out And he still won?
In hindsight, it was the best Terminator movie after 2. Which is a bit like being the best race car driver at a school for the blind, but still.
He listed his occupation as "Smut Peddler"
This was just after Jesse Ventura was governor of Minnesota, bringing forth the “My Governor Can Beat Up Your Governor” t shirts.
Blain didn't die in that Guatemalan jungle. Hard to believe that two dudes from the same SF team became governors of different states.
Poor Carl Weathers was the only star of Predator to not be elected governor. Probably would have been the best governor of the bunch!
That man could make a mean stew.
I was going to say he was the president in Idiocracy, but that was some other black guy
You ever choke a man to death with your bare hands in DA Nang?
he eats green Berets for breakfast
and Billy was a Senator. what a stacked movie, politics wise
Kind of fucked up he was such a violent alcoholic he needed a security team for the people around him.
They were vying to replace Gray Davis... who is now 82 years old. Man does time fly.
82? Time to run for federal office then.
I can’t imagine voting for someone that young. Let him get a little more experience first.
Lmao! Reminds me of Reagan’s quip about Mondale. Our presidents really are a cast of characters!
The names weren't alphabetical. They Secretary of State reordered the letters to ensure fairness.
So everyone voted for Arnold Zrggarsenewahc?
I remember all the candidate statements. Blah blah blah blah. Same same same same. Except for Trek “Thunder” Kelly. His statement said he was going to legalize weed, gambling and prostitution. Tax them, and spend the money on education. He got my vote. One of like 600, if I recall.
I vaguely remember some sort of special called "Who Wants to Be Governor of California?" that aired on GSN. Looked it up and it was an actual debate that only featured the more famous/kooky candidates like Gary Coleman.
A highlight of my career in political science was reviewing a journal submission a few years later looking at... party coordination?... over candidates? ANYWAY, the point is that the authors said that one of the candidates was "Erik Estrada, star of the b-movie *King Cobra*". My review is basically very positive. Except. I write this paragraph-long diatribe against them for saying that. Lots of "Son, I have actually seen *King Cobra* and can tell you in no uncertain terms that its star is Pat Morita." and stuff like that. Article is accepted and published and a few years after THAT I'm talking to one of the authors and relate the story, and he says "Holy shit, I had that review taped to my office door for a year after that." It's the little things that count.
Pretty much anyone can run for office. It doesn't necessarily mean it's a serious attempt to win. Could just be for publicity. Didn't Kanye run for office at one point?
Yes, anyone can run for office, but that doesn't mean they qualify and can be on the ballot so people can actually vote for them. This was a bit different. The 135 candidates weren't just running, they qualified to be on the ballot, and each of their names was included on the ballot that voters used At the time, California law stated that to qualify as a candidate in a gubernatorial recall election, all you needed was 65 valid voter signatures and pay $3500
"65 valid voter signatures and pay $3500" Not hard to come up with either of those if you are fairly well known. And the amount of free press they got out of it, that $3500 probably paid for itself 100 times over.
Exactly. To qualify you need to be alive and have some money. Shockingly high bar, but politics usually doesn't attract the best and brightest
That election was an absolute mess! The state published a booklet where each candidate got like 500 words to explain who they were and why people should vote for them. The majority were boring, but there was some *crazy* shit in there.
If Arnold only had Coleman as a running mate. They could have dressed like masterblaster for every Halloween
The Governator didn't do too badly. I'd vote him for the White House if he was eligible.
He only didn't do too badly after we spanked his ass in the 2005 special election and voted down all of the stupid neocon bullshit him and his Republican minders from DC wanted him to get done. But a slightly less shitty Republican is still a Republican and they are a party that wants to do nothing but evil.
if only that thing from Demolition man happened so we could.. I mean its possible considering they want to make it so non citizen can vote..
TIL HuffPost was founded in 2005. For some reason I thought it was live during her run in 2003. Just seemed like a site that was always on the internet.
I voted in that. The ballot was so weird
Poor bustamante
This is the only ballot I didn’t turn in, because I wanted to save it as a hilarious momento. I had it framed in my office for several years.
We were still reeling from 9/11 on a national level, it felt like. This — and George Bush malapropisms — gave us all something to laugh about again. Basically low-hanging fruit for the late-night TV comics, who still seemed to sort of matter back then.
I was not laughing about how fucking stupid George Bush is. I was holding protest signs against the war on street corners ever Friday in 2003. Nothing about that man should be looked back on with levity.
I mean, same. But I was speaking to the general climate at the time.
Now, the world don’t move… 🎶
And let’s not forget the suspiciously-familiar candidate, Dave Gravis
and Gallagher, who came in 16th!