Arnold Schwarzenegger rose to power in 2003, just months after Democratic Governor Gray Davis won reelection in 2002.
Davis had tripled the state's car tax, and the state legislature had signed into law a provision which would permit illegal immigrants to earn drivers licences.
The legislature repealed the license law, but the voters had to recall David in order to restore the car tax cut.
Riding populist upset with the dot.com bust, the energy roll-backs, and a general economic malaise in California, Ted Costa mounted a recall effort to get rid of Gray Davis.
Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Vista) jumped in with money and papers to run for governor. Then Arnold Schwarzenegger, state senator Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), Democrat Cruz Bustemante, Peter Camejo of the Green Party, Independent Peter Uebberoth, Arianna Huffington, and a hundred other odd candidates, including Hustler Publisher Larry Flynt, Porn Star Mary Carey, and even the late former child star Gary Coleman.
One hundred candidates threw their hats in the ring to run for Governor. They even made guest appearances on the Tonight Show, and the Los Angeles Times feature their biographies in extended interviews.
The most memorable moment for me during the election was not the Arnold no-shows in debate after debate, or the egg-throwing, or even the up-and-down media circus that took over the state.
The best part took place in the last debate, in which Arnold finally showed up, and slowly but surely made it clear that he has something to offer as an actor-politician. The best line started with Huffington attacking Schwarzenegger for his frequent womanizing, along with allegations of assault.
"Now that was an attack!" the moderator interrupted. "Mr. Schwarzenegger, you may respond.
"I have the perfect role for you in my next movie!" Schwarznegger fired back, and the entire audience burst out laughing.
The recall of 2003 connected perfectly with Arnold's movie Terminator 3, which featured a female enemy robot, whose head Arnold "The Terminator" slams in a toilet bowl."
Perhaps that would have been a good role for Huffington, since her campaign went down the drain after that, and she dropped out.
On October 7, 2003, "The Terminator" Terminated the competition and became the Golden State's 38th Governor.
Recalling the recall, I must recall that they should have recalled Arnold just as soon as they sent him in.
Yes, he repealed the tripling of the car tax. McClintock assured every voter that he would have done the same.
But when it came to governor, he was out of his league, and the political culture terminated Arnold, putting his head in the bowl.
He advanced good initiatives in 2005, all of which crumbled. Paycheck protection then and now has faced an uphill battle in California.
He called the Democrats in California "girlie men", but they put up a fight, and his Republican colleagues in the senate budged very little toward his Democrat-lite form of governance.
The spending spree spiraled out of control. He pushed Cap and Trade on the state, and the residents today endure rising electric rates and a declining business culture because o fit.
The populist outrage that put Schwarzenegger in Sacramento did little to stop the bleeding tax revenues, nor did his policies
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