Is this late in arriving? Yes. Does that suck? Yes.

But blame the recall for that.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has never run for public office before. Unlike Bustamante or McClintock, he hasn't been subjected to ANY of the close, serious journalistic scrutiny that candidates for public office usually (and rightly) receive for months leading up to a primary election, and then months leading up to a general election. (Sorry, the entertainment "press" doesn't count.)

Arnold Schwarzenegger took a pass on a gubernatorial election that happened less than one year ago. He could have run in that election. He would have been subjected to scrutiny before the primary, and then even more before the general election. He chose not to do this.

Instead, he chose to jump in at the last minute of this recall election, so reporters had to scramble to do the due dilligence that we expect of them (don't we?). Is it any wonder that it took 60 days for certain facts to be discovered? Just sixty days? Is it really fair to tell the press that they have to do the full vetting for a candidate for the leader of the world's sixth-largest economy in about two months?

There are corporate vice presidents who get subjected to a longer vetting process than that.

Calling the revelations about Arnold Schwarzenegger "last-minute dirty politics" is bullshit. Arnold's strategy has been to keep the press at bay (he's been one of the least-accessible candidates for CA governor ever), use his star power to get the easy TV coverage (controlled photo ops at campaign-chosen locations and situations), avoid unscripted debates, and take advantage of the short run-up to the election to keep the press one step behind his seriously spotty past.

Let's say Arnold is elected. And THEN we find out new, horrible stuff about him--such as what really went on in that room with Ken Lay, or what his plans really are for tough decisions about the budget (he's keeping these plans a secret).

Well, guess what? Recall Arnold!

Isn't this the same logic used to recall Davis? Well, no. It's actually much stronger logic.

Davis: We had literally decades to investigate this frequent candidate for (and holder of) statewide public office, including runs for governor in conventional elections.

Schwarzenegger: As opposed to decades, we had two months to investigate this guy as a candidate for office. Before August, he hadn't run for so much as dogcatcher, as the cliche goes.

If we find out anything new about him after October 7, there will be far more reason to recall him than there was to recall Davis. We can honestly say that we didn't know what we were getting into.

Because we don't.

[Cross-posted to Brian Flemming's Weblog.]