In America, children are raised to believe that anyone with enough ambition, talent and luck can grow up to become president. In California, voters are about to find out that anyone with $3,500 and 65 friends can at least try to become governor.
By Thursday afternoon, with nine days to go before the deadline for declaring a candidacy in the Oct. 7 recall election, more than 200 people statewide had taken the first step of filing papers with their county registrars.
Hollywood billboard fixture Angelyne has pulled papers with the Los Angeles County registrar. So has sometime pornographer Larry Flynt.
Publication name -- An article in Friday's California section incorrectly reported the name of the publication for which Steve I. Young, a potential candidate for governor in the recall election, writes. It is the Jewish World Review, not Jewish World News.
Michael Jackson, Bill Murray and Steve Young are angling to run -- though not the Michael Jackson, Bill Murray, or Steve Young.
Other doppelgangers include a San Leandro Republican called Bob Dole, a San Francisco Democrat named Dan Feinstein, the mysterious S. Issa of Arcadia, and a clutch of Davises.
Roughly 50 possible candidates have paid the nonrefundable fee, raising the possibility of a ballot scores or even hundreds of names long. The standard punch-card ballot can accommodate about 300 names; after that, poll workers would have to give each voter two cards, a daunting prospect for election officials.
For the politicians interested in launching a serious challenge to Gov. Gray Davis, the proliferation of candidates offers a host of problems, some logistical, others strategic.
Voters might get confused if too many unknown candidates end up on the ballot, said Jack Pitney, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College. "Normally, folks like that might turn up in a primary and then get weeded out," he said. "This time, they're going to end up in the main event."
Moreover, part of Davis' strategy is likely to rely on exploiting the presence of fringe or joke candidates to encourage voters to reject the recall, he said.
Davis and other Democrats could warn voters that "if the four or five major candidates split the 'sensible' vote, then conceivably, a fringe candidate with a famous name or a following could sneak up on them," Pitney said. "It ups the fear factor."
Indeed, state Democratic Chairman Art Torres already has begun sounding that theme, saying that the recall had turned California into "the laughingstock of America."
"It reminds me of that little car that goes into the circus arena," he said in an interview. "All of a sudden, you can't believe that 25 clowns are coming out of that car."
- Davis' Allies Weigh Backup in Bustamante Aug 15, 2003
- Top Democrats Lockyer, Angelides Opt Out of Possible Recall Election Jun 18, 2003
- Schwarzenegger Rejects Davis Debate Sep 28, 2003
