MAYBE THEY SHOULD KEEP GRAY

The Battle of the Accents (Don Hazen, July 14, 2003, AlterNet)

Hard to believe, but this fall those two accented icons, Greek-born Arianna Huffington and Austrian-born Arnold Schwarzenegger, may well be battling to the wire to take the California governorship away from sad sack Gray Davis, who has embarrassed himself to near unanimous public contempt in the state. [...]

Huffington's former husband, conservative Congressman and Texas oil heir Michael Huffington, narrowly lost in a bid to unseat Diane Feinstein in the 1996 Senate race. Michael Huffington came out as gay after that election loss, the two separated, and Arianna has undergone a very visible transformation from the right to the populist left. She was a regular guest on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, where she moved out of the right-wing seat, due in part to what she has said was Robert Scheer's political persuasion.

The reason a Huffington candidacy would need to be taken seriously is that sooner or later, California labor and progressive leaders and Democrats are going to have to come up with a candidate to support should Davis lose. Naturally, they will advise voting against the recall, but the second question on the ballot remains: If the governor is recalled who should be the new governor?

If the Dems don't provide an option and Davis is recalled they are guaranteeing a Republican takeover in Sacramento -- either Schwarzenegger or someone much worse, such as the inept Bill Simon, who despite his inexperience and failure on the campaign trail lost to Davis by only a relatively small margin.

It had previously been thought impossible to start a paragraph by saying someone should be taken seriously and end it saying they're a disciple of the vile Robert Scheer. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 19, 2003 3:41 PM