Re: Why Schwarzenegger won

[Michael Hoover <hooverm@xxxxxxxxxx>]

>>> lnp3@xxxxxxxxx 10/08/03 2:22 PM >>>
Counterpunch, October 9, 2003
A Black Day for Democracy
Schwarzenegger and the Failure of the Dems
By DAVID LINDORFF
The election of Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor of America's largest
state represents a kind of milestone in the decline of American
democracy. This is not "Reagan II, the Movie," as some have suggested--a
second actor being elected governor of the tinsel state. Reagan, for all
the criticism that he was "just an actor," in fact had paid his
political dues, leading the actors union and getting involved in a
variety of campaigns--for example against Medicare--before jumping into
electoral politics to run for governor. While he certainly relied on his
actor's charm to manufacture a persona, he had a conservative political
agenda and was fairly candid about it.

Schwarzenegger, in contrast, has no political background. He is a total
artifice, a creation of a group of Republican backers who care little or
nothing about his personal beliefs or ideology, and see him as a vehicle
for restoring Republican control in a state that has been becoming
increasingly Democratic.
<<<>>>

posting header a bit misleading as article (and i read complete piece at
counterpunch website) does not explain why schwarznegger won (although
author makes some salient points)...

one word: celebrity...

so much for old system in which person started at local level and worked
way up through state and federal politics...

number of celebrity politicians has been increasing for several
decades...candidate-centered elections foster celebrity entry as one has
to have money/name recognition/media coverage to run credible campaign
and celebrities generally have/get all three...

having little - if any - political experience often works in their favor
(while i'm not a big opinion poll guy, 'evidence' indicates that folks
trust celebrity politicians more than career ones)...

while john glenn, bill bradley, jesse ventura, sonny bono, ronald
reagan, schwarnegger may have had national celebrity status at time they
decided to run for office, others have parlayed their less
'celebrated' status into elective office...

guy on schlocky 70s tv show 'loveboat' (think his name is fred grandy)
admits that he initially won his iowa u.s. congressional seat because
people associated him with character he played...

steve largent (tulsa university, seattle seahawks, pro football hall of
fame) and j c watts (oklahoma universiry) used their status from
football to win  oklahoma congressional seats...

jim bunning (detroit tiger pitcher/u.s. house member from kentucky), tom
mcmillan (maryland university basketball star/u.s. house member from
that state) are a couple of others..

as for schwarznegger, this was celebrity politics on steroids (both
literally and figuratively)...

he's said for years that he might run for california governor, recall
'movement' coincided with release of 'terminator 3' (one could not have
scripted this better), he goes out to do publicity for film and mixes
his messages (he refers to himself as terminator in relation to gray
davis' political future), after recall petitions are certified he
announces his candidacy on 'tonight' show (show that only exists because
there are celebrities)...

anyone who thought candidate other than schwarznegger might win is
unaware of media-based system rule of thumb: celebrity trumps issues (or
what campaigner types like to call 'message') most every time...
michael hoover