Arianna to save California for the, er. left?

an article

Democrat activists push surprise as potential Terminator stopper
By Dion Nissenbaum
Mercury News Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO - In a state trying to come to terms with the extraordinary prospect of ousting its governor and replacing him with the Terminator, Bay Area activists are stirring things up even more by trying to recruit reformed conservative Arianna Huffington to enter the race as the progressive alternative.

The possibility of the SUV-hating Arianna squaring off against the Hummer-loving Arnold for the right to replace Gov. Gray Davis is creating a buzz from San Francisco to Santa Monica. One eager supporter has already dubbed the potential matchup ``The Hybrid vs. the Hummer.''

In any other election, the notion of progressive Californians rallying behind Huffington might seem strange. She's a onetime anti-feminist Republican, New-Age devotee who divorced her husband after the former California congressman outed himself as gay in Esquire magazine.

Yet Arianna advocates say the movement to draft the syndicated columnist seems to be gathering steam.

Leading the charge is Bay Area activist Van Jones, director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in San Francisco. Jones and the fledgling campaign are preparing to unveil their Web site -- www.RunAriannaRun.com -- to generate enthusiasm.

``She's anti-drug war, tough on corporate crime, anti-war, anti-Bush, pro-environment, pro-electoral reform -- and smart as hell,'' Jones wrote in an e-mail sent out last week to dozens of activists. ``If anybody could pull this off, it would be Arianna.''

So far, Huffington has done nothing to knock down the idea. Jones said Friday that Huffington was ``flattered, but non-committal'' when he recently raised the idea with her, and vowed to talk to him more about it when she returns from an overseas vacation in two weeks.

Huffington couldn't be reached, and her office assistant declined to comment.

Support from Green's Camejo

But that isn't stopping the movement -- which is already drawing surprise support from Green Party candidate Peter Camejo, who said he might bow out of the race and support Huffington if she embraces a progressive agenda.

``I'd be perfectly willing to withdraw and consider supporting someone else,'' Camejo said Friday. ``I think it could be rather interesting if she got into the race.''

The Draft Arianna movement arose out of simmering concerns among left-leaning Californians that the Democratic Party's strategy of supporting Davis by keeping other Democrats off the ballot is a ``suicide mission.''

The prospect of having no one to support as an alternative if Davis is ousted has many liberals nervous. In a recall election, voters would be asked two questions: whether Davis should be recalled, and who should be his replacement. If enough Californians vote to oust Davis, the alternative candidate with the most votes would quickly take over.

``I think the recall is despicable,'' said Hollywood film producer Robert Greenwald, a liberal activist pushing Arianna's candidacy. ``But . . . given Gray Davis's position on everything from corporate money to prison guards to social justice -- there's no possible way I could find myself in a position of supporting him.''

Alternative to Davis

Although some liberals are sympathetic to Camejo's campaign, many say he has neither the cash nor the cachet to win. Arianna has both.

With Republican actor Arnold Schwarzenegger signaling he may join the battle to oust Davis, liberals began trolling for an alternative. Greenwald and Jones had the same epiphany: Arianna.

The 53-year-old daughter of a Greek newspaper publisher has undergone a political transformation in recent years. Once a darling of the right, she's now a darling of the left.

She began her career as a conservative who questioned the feminist movement and castigated liberal ideas.

SUV bashing

After Sept. 11, 2001, Huffington abandoned her Lincoln Navigator for an energy-efficient hybrid Toyota and took gas-guzzling Americans to task. Earlier this year, she helped produce television commercials spoofing federal government ads that linked casual drug use to international terrorism. Huffington's ads suggested that SUV-driving Americans were helping to fund terrorists by gobbling up oil from the Middle East.

Huffington began her life in America as an ambitious New York socialite. She married Michael Huffington a few years before he launched his brief political career by spending $5 million in 1992 to represent Santa Barbara in Congress. Two years later, he lost a costly battle to unseat U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

During the race, Arianna was portrayed as the power behind the throne who was manipulating her less-astute husband for her own political gain. She was forced to admit her ties to a California New Age guru, and that they had hired an illegal immigrant as a nanny.

After Huffington admitted he was gay, Arianna divorced him and began a career as a political pundit.

Just goes to show that Californians are a bunch of weirdos. Gee, let's vote out our duly elected leader... let's run the campaign to oust the governor on the money of a 2x car thief; then we'll elect a steroid popping Austrian.

No, no... I've got it, we'll elect a one time conservative who suddenly finds out her husband is gay, and remakes herself as a leftist! Brilliant!

 

TheFreak, did you ever see the photos of Arnold's calves in the 70s? Those things were amazing...

but, as a slight draw back, he had zits on his feet.