Going into election day in California, I heard an interesting take on how one might look at the vote.
The first question, of course was whether to recall Davis. It could be argued that the percentage of people voting "no" on recall were, in fact, voting for Davis as the candidate in the race. That doesn't take into account the people who probably would not vote for Davis specifically but didn't want to see the recall happen for whatever reason, but still a valid point.
So, the logic went, if Davis got around 45% of the vote (the "no"s) and Arnold got the 30% or so he was projected to get in the new governor's race, then Davis really "beats" Arnold.
Interesting way of looking at it.
Of course, in the end is looks like Arnold got more votes (3.575 million) in his race than Davis (3.487 million) got in his anyway.
There's no doubt, then, that the Californians want Arnold, not Davis.
And have you looked at the results farther down the ballot in the Joke Candidate category?
• Larry Flynt finished atop the pack of ridiculous candidates (15,155 votes) and 7th overall.
• Gary Coleman (12,549) was hot on Flynt's wheels, finishing 8th overall
• Mary Carey (9,855) was 10th overall
• Gallagher (4,784) smashed his way to 16th on the list
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
Interesting - thanks! I would like to roll Flynt, Coleman, Carey and Gallagher into one Super Candidate - oh wait, that was Arnold.
2 - Phillip Winn
I called my mother the day before the election to find out what her plans were. I guess the apple doesn't fall to far from the tree in some ways, since she immediately suggested that the recall was stupid, stupid, stupid. She was considering voting "No," because she wished it hadn't happened, but was afraid it would be counted by some as a vote for Davis. She didn't vote for Davis in either of the last two elections, so why on earth would she vote for him now?
So while I haven't checked back, I'm reasonably certain she voted for the recall, and for the winning candidate as well.
3 - Michelle
I really don't understand why anyone would want Arnie as a politician. In the whole media coverage I haven't heard one argument why he would be good for California as a governor.
4 - Eric Olsen
His pecs
5 - visualsimplicity
The only reason why I'd think Arnold would make a decent governor is because he's surrounded himself with intelligent people who would help him out. (Not indicating my own opinion on this next statement but) That's what I thought about Bush too.
6 - Eric Olsen
I would say you have to give him credit for determination: it takes determination to become the world's top bodybuilder, to become a movie star when you can barely speak the language and you are clearly not a natural actor.