Schwarzenegger will run for governor in California election
By Martin Kasindorf, USA TODAY
BURBANK, Calif. — Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger told a roaring audience on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Wednesday that he'll run for governor, ending months of suspense and injecting instant drama into California's recall election.
Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger jokes with host Jay Leno during taping of The Tonight Show Wednesday.
By Kevork Djansezian, AP
The decision by Schwarzenegger, a native of Austria who has never held political office, came as a surprise even to those close to the 56-year-old screen action hero. He had been telling reporters that after initial fervor to jump into the election, he had turned against putting himself on the list of Republican candidates for the Oct. 7 recall.
"It's a bolt out of the blue," said Bill Whalen, a research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. "He puts a huge jolt of excitement into this race. This may be the worst day in Gray Davis' life."
Davis, Whalen said, had anticipated running against traditional, less charismatic opponents. "Arnold is an enormous X factor," Whalen said.
In Davis, Schwarzenegger faces a career politician with a formidable reputation for raising money.
"The more candidates who join, the greater the likelihood that a small minority of voters will be controlling California's future," Davis said after Schwarzenegger's announcement.
The recall was put on the ballot via a petition drive largely financed by U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., a wealthy conservative Republican who has said he will run for governor. Republicans will have at least two other conservative choices, state Sen. Tom McClintock and businessman Bill Simon Jr., who lost to Davis in November.
In the first statewide use of California's 92-year-old recall law, the ballot will have two parts: a yes-or-no on dumping Davis and a list of replacement candidates if a majority decides to remove him.
Schwarzenegger's advisers said the actor's wife, Maria Shriver, an NBC journalist and a Kennedy family member, was opposed to a political race for him for reasons of family privacy. But at a news conference after his taping of NBC's Tonight Show, Schwarzenegger said Shriver had turned the tide for him. "She was concerned about the children and all this, but then she says that, 'you know something? I support you no matter what you do.' "
Schwarzenegger said he couldn't resist the chance to unseat Davis.
"The politicians are not doing their job. The politicians are fiddling, fumbling and failing. And the man that is failing the people more than anyone is Gray Davis. ... And this is why he needs to be recalled, and this is why I am going to run for governor of California," Schwarzenegger said.
Meanwhile, the embattled Davis, got some good news Wednesday. U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who polls say is the state's most popular politician, rejected requests by jittery Democrats to place herself on the ballot as insurance for her party in case voters oust Davis.
Many political analysts had said Feinstein, 70, would have unseated Davis.
Also Wednesday, political commentator Arianna Huffington declared that she would run as an independent. Former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan, a moderate Republican, had said he would enter the race if Schwarzenegger did not.
Another entertainer also entered the race Wednesday. Former child actor Gary Coleman, star of the 1980s sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, declared his candidacy.
But it was Schwarzenegger's decision that ruled the day. Wearing an open-collared white shirt and a buttoned dark sport jacket, he spoke forcefully but smilingly throughout his appearance on Leno's show.
Leno asked Schwarzenegger what had prompted him to run.
"One-point-six million people said, 'We are mad as hell and we are not going to take it anymore,' " he said, referring to the people who had signed petitions calling for Davis' recall.
Davis, who won re-election last year, saw his popularity plummet as California dealt with a record $38 billion deficit. He has also been scorched by criticism of his handling of the state's energy crisis in 2001.
Was Schwarzenegger ready for California's nasty politics, Leno asked. "I know they're going to throw everything at me and say I have no experience and I'm a womanizer and I'm a terrible guy," Schwarzenegger said.
Schwarzenegger is a moderate Republican who supports abortion rights, gay rights, environmental protections and some gun controls.
He vowed to be the people's candidate.
"I do not have to bow to any special interests," he said. "I have plenty of money. No one can pay me off. Trust me: No one."
Contributing: Jill Lawrence in Chicago and Tom Vanden Brook in Washington
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