Comments on: Do you recall Davis? No, me neither.

Do you recall Davis? No, me neither.

raaka — Wed, 23 Jul 2003 21:31:03 -0800

By: raaka

raaka — Wed, 23 Jul 2003 21:32:12 -0800

The widely expected announcement touched off a flurry of activity among potential Republican candidates on Wednesday. Businessman Bill Simon, who lost to Davis in November, said he would announce his plans on Saturday and state Sen. Tom McClintock formed an exploratory committee. Arnold Schwarzenegger's spokesman said the actor has not decided if he will run. The only declared major-party candidate so far is Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who bankrolled the recall drive. He planned to return from Washington on Thursday or Friday, earlier than expected, to formally enter the race, his spokesman said.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Wed, 23 Jul 2003 21:37:53 -0800

WHAT? This is an outrage! I refuse to stand for this! *reads link* Never mind.

By: kindall

kindall — Wed, 23 Jul 2003 21:42:27 -0800

Arnold had an excellent line in one of his speeches, so excellent it was even reported up here in Seattle. "I can't quite remember who the current governor is, perhaps you can help me recall him." He should use the Total Recall movie poster in his campaign.

By: msacheson

msacheson — Wed, 23 Jul 2003 22:02:27 -0800

That's good, but what other lines did Arnold come up with? Upon closing his remarks, did he say, "Hasta la vista" or "I'll be bock"? Enquiring minds want to know.

By: mildred-pitt

mildred-pitt — Wed, 23 Jul 2003 22:09:58 -0800

I'm a cop you idiot!

By: Dirjy

Dirjy — Wed, 23 Jul 2003 22:12:43 -0800

Vote for me if you want to live.

By: zpousman

zpousman — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 00:58:34 -0800

It's not a tumor!

By: herc

herc — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 01:23:05 -0800

By: gatorae

gatorae — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 01:23:14 -0800

Thirty-five years from now you reprogrammed me to be your governor here - in this time

By: salsamander

salsamander — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 01:31:39 -0800

Good. And Good Riddance to Davis, that milquetoast. Time to clean house. Glad I'm living in a state where I have the opportunity to use my vote to change things, instead of hoping the lunks who got votes four years ago do what was asked of them.

By: gyc

gyc — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 02:09:55 -0800

Interesting how many who complained about Hollywood personalities speaking out about politics just a few months ago now have no problems with a Hollywood personality possibly becoming governor of politically important state. Why? There's a difference between yapping one's mouth off and actually trying to do something to make a difference.

By: donfactor

donfactor — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 03:21:51 -0800

By: insomnia_lj

insomnia_lj — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 04:11:57 -0800

I'm glad I live in a state where anyone who is rich enough can bankroll a bunch of out-of-state consultants and hired petitioneers to force another election at the taxpayer's expense! After all, if our leaders in Washington didn't bankrupt our country, if companies like Enron didn't intentionally conspire to form an energy crisis, if those same companies weren't practically cheered on by the powers that be, and if the dotcoms didn't crash... hey, it just might be possible to perhaps blame it all on Davis.

By: m@

m@ — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 06:51:20 -0800

Forget the recall, what about his head on a pike?

By: uncanny hengeman

uncanny hengeman — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 06:58:16 -0800

This is the switchboard at the Gator Lodge. I don't stop nothing you idiot.

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 07:12:59 -0800

The Terminator may not be another Ronald Reagan who almost did it on his own but Davis has given him a good head start at bankrupting thhe state. Maybe the Bush deficit will inspire him to greater works. Thankfully, the part of the Constitution preventing Ahnold from being anything greater than governor remains intact in Patriot-Act-Era America. The only thing that would be hysterical about it, of course, would be that if he ran, he'd likely win, thus resulting in a right-wing arch-conservative having fully financed the drive to put not himself but rather a pro-choice, social moderate member of the "Hollywood Elite" into office.

By: eyeballkid

eyeballkid — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 08:11:14 -0800

instead of hoping the lunks who got votes four years ago do what was asked of them One year ago. Davis was re-elected one year ago. He's a putz, yes. Did he screw the state? Certainly. This is still just a ploy by Issa to buy the office. What's the Governor's office worth in CA? Apparently $1 million. So what will CA's choices for new Governor be? Weasel-boy Issa, who wants to purchase the seat, or Arnie? There is talk that former LA mayor Richard Riordan is interested in running. As Republicans go, he's the only one of the three I'd vote for. As for the Democrats, the talk at the moment is that they plan to stand behind Davis. Which is too bad because that boy's job, Bengali tiger suit and all, is finished and this state needs a selection of Dems to choose from when the election comes.

By: filchyboy

filchyboy — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 08:54:30 -0800

The whole thing is just shameful. I voted against Simon cuz he's a dumb criminal punk. It pisses me off that just a year later Mr. Issa has decided that my vote last year wasn't good enough. Issa's a venal shithead.

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 09:24:06 -0800

Hey, this is neat. Can we do it with Bush, too?

By: RakDaddy

RakDaddy — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 09:42:57 -0800

Good gravy, but this honks me off. All the talk of "democracy in action" and "the people taking back the state"; bull and shit. As many of you have pointed out, this is Darrell Issa's play at grabbing the reins of power and pushing his narrow-minded agenda through Sacramento. I am so pissed off at anyone who signed the recall; the state's already broke, and now we're going to have to shell out a few more million to pay for this election. Issa should pony up for that, too, if he wants to be in the Statehouse that badly. Davis is a weasel, and a schmuck, and worthless. And I voted for him twice because the alternatives (anyone remember Dan Lundgren? *shudder*) were worse. California politics has been a mess for years, and the thing is the Dems in the Assembly and Senate are just going to dig in even deeper to keep the legislative deadlock going. Issa may be governor, but I doubt he's going to have any bills to sign into law seeing how the reps can't get anything done. Arnold as governor? Go for it, California! Elect us up another actor! The first one did so well... Maybe I can just get Santa Monica to secede from the rest of the state...

By: RakDaddy

RakDaddy — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 09:46:45 -0800

Eyeball- I saw Diane Feinstein's name batted around as a possible candidate. I'm gonna just write in INSECT OVERLORDS on my ballot.

By: eyeballkid

eyeballkid — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 10:00:27 -0800

Yeah, I saw that too, but her people are keeping tight-lipped until Davis loses the office. At the moment, the Issa camp is trying to push for a new election and skip the recall (yes / no) ballot. (Instead of allowing for a recall first and then a later election to take the office (while the Lt Gov takes over), they want one ballot to decide then and there.) They want to get it done in one day because they know that the Dems, with their misguided, at this point, backing of supremely unpopular Davis, won't be mobilized and ready with any alternative choices.

By: herc

herc — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 10:04:22 -0800

Why? There's a difference between yapping one's mouth off and actually trying to do something to make a difference. Does this imply that speaking out against something isn't trying to make a difference? What, then, were the Vietnam protesters trying to do? Or the Republicans bussed into Florida to protest Gore's attempt at a recount? That just "yapping?" Yeah, Davis has been terrible. But, like filchyboy said, it sucks that -- in the end -- my vote doesn't count. Like the majority of Californians, voted against Simon. Now, some guy has decided to increase my state's deficit by another 30 million dollars so that I have to take time out of my day to go out and do it again.

By: RakDaddy

RakDaddy — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 10:12:30 -0800

Well, isn't that up to the Lt. Gov to decide? It seems that it's his responsibility to set up elections (according to his site).

By: ehintz

ehintz — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 10:30:54 -0800

Should be darkly amusing to see how the cons spin this one. After all, according to them, Gore was a sore loser and shouldn't have been trying to claim the presidency; he should've been honorable, conceded defeat, and waited for the next election. Ergo, Gore was a Bad Guy™. But now that their party won't concede defeat and wait for the next election, it's going to be some banal garbage about freedom and democracy in action. Should be a veritable puke fest.

By: originalname37

originalname37 — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 10:56:30 -0800

I have a (possibly stupid) question about the recall election process. My understanding is that the ballot basically asks 2 questions: 1) "Do you want to recall Davis?" 2) "Whom do you want to replace him?" If >50% say yes to question 1, the plurality on question 2 immediately becomes governor. My question is this: Is Davis listed as one of the names under question 2? In other words, can he be recalled but replace himself? It sounds stupid, but it seems like, with as many candidates as there are likely to be in this election, the plurality on question 2 could easily be in the teens. It would seem to put Davis at a severe disadvantage if he needs to get above 50% to stay in. Such a disadvantage, in fact, that were he to lose, why wouldn't he just (the very next day) begin the process to recall whomever the new governor is? It seems like as long as neither has 50% support, the two top candidates could go back and forth ad infinitum.

By: RakDaddy

RakDaddy — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 11:10:37 -0800

I think he'd have to re-declare his candidacy and either 1) collect a few hundred signatures and lay out a few thousand dollars in filing fees or 2) collect 10,000 signatures and waive the filing fee. Of course, that means *anyone* can be put on the ballot if they meet those criteria. So, who's up for sponsoring a MetaCandidate?

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 11:14:55 -0800

OK, I don't like Davis, but I don't like the recall either, since it's not based on any startling new revelations that have surfaced since he was elected a year ago. If he's a screwup, we already have a remedy; we don't re-elect him. That said, I think having Governor Terminator would be cool. Besides, if we can have Jesse "The ~~Body~~ Governor" Ventura, we can have Governor Arnold. And while we're working our way through Predator co-stars, how about making Carl Weathers a governor?

By: inpHilltr8r

inpHilltr8r — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 11:31:26 -0800

The Governator

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 11:36:03 -0800

No offense to everyone saying it, but can we stop the whole "elect Arnold because it would be so cool" angle? I mean, come on people. Garry Trudeau said it best about Ventura's election: you're not supposed to vote for someone because you're bored and it'll be like free cable.

By: cell divide

cell divide — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 11:37:09 -0800

It only takes $3500 plus 65 signatures to get on the ballot. So who should be the MeFi candidate?

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 11:41:08 -0800

"...who should be the MeFi candidate?" Matt, of course. He's a resident and he has a nice "hands-off" governance style.

By: originalname37

originalname37 — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 11:49:24 -0800

I'd kick in $20.

By: RakDaddy

RakDaddy — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:03:34 -0800

The official spiel is here. As long as Matt's still registered to vote in California, I think he's legal. Matt, whaddaya say? Wanna be the next governor of the great state of California?

By: COBRA!

COBRA! — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:27:29 -0800

I mean, come on people. Garry Trudeau said it best about Ventura's election: you're not supposed to vote for someone because you're bored and it'll be like free cable. Ventura only won partly because of the "haw-haw, that's cool" facot. He benefitted from actually answering questions in debates, and it didn't hurt that the two mainstream parties ran complete stiffs (one of whom, *sigh*, is now a fucking US Senator, but still a stiff) against him. He was at least as much an Anti-Establishment candidate as he was a Pro Wrasslin candidate. None of which would apply to Arnold, at least from where I sit.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:37:29 -0800

As long as Matt's still registered to vote in California, I think he's legal. Matt, whaddaya say? Wanna be the next governor of the great state of California? So I just moved out of California for the first time in my life, and when I saw the headline about the recall, I thought "oh my god, that's crazy!" then I thought "what the fuck do I care, I'm no longer a resident, let them be as nutty as they want to." It was at that exact moment I realized I've fully converted to being a non-Californian.

By: jpoulos

jpoulos — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:39:50 -0800

Besides, if we can have Jesse "The Body Governor" Ventura, we can have Governor Arnold. There's a worthy precedent to follow.

By: COBRA!

COBRA! — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:41:11 -0800

"facot"= factor damn.

By: tommasz

tommasz — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:02:02 -0800

Matt, is being Californian something that just sort of falls off you when you leave the state?

By: RakDaddy

RakDaddy — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 14:07:43 -0800

Three ideas: -Greg Knauss -Wil Wheaton -Bob Cringely All geeks, all have audiences (small, true, but we just want to put someone on the ballot, right?), all have some minor name recognition. All in the name of Goofy Shit, of course.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 14:13:11 -0800

Matt, is being Californian something that just sort of falls off you when you leave the state? After the training seminars and the week at deprogramming camp, yes. Oh man, Rak, you should float the idea to Wil Wheaton, I'm sure he'd do it (probably front the ballot cash himself)

By: RakDaddy

RakDaddy — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 14:54:07 -0800

Hell, why not? I'll keep you posted.

By: ehintz

ehintz — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 16:32:29 -0800

I'll vote for Wil. I normally go libertarian on principle, but if Wil's on there I'll do it (unless he runs as a repub or dem-I won't vote for either party since they both suck eggs).

By: quadog

quadog — Fri, 25 Jul 2003 00:15:46 -0800

Who's paying for all this recall business?

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Fri, 25 Jul 2003 05:12:52 -0800

Who's paying for all this recall business? I'd guess the taxpayers are. Which is funny in a way.

By: Jako

Jako — Fri, 25 Jul 2003 06:11:43 -0800

Wil would be fun. For now, though, I'm standing by my original nomination of Ernie Hsiung.

By: jennak

jennak — Fri, 25 Jul 2003 07:21:36 -0800

Is Davis listed as one of the names under question 2? In other words, can he be recalled but replace himself? According to this WP article, no: "The subject of the recall cannot run."

By: mikewas

mikewas — Mon, 28 Jul 2003 10:12:53 -0800

Article 2, Section 15(c) of the California Constitution, states in pertinent part: "The [recalled] officer may not be a candidate" in the replacement election.