When Arnold Schwarzenegger declared for governor of California on a late-night entertainment show, the event reflected the premium Americans place on celebrity. Of course, Mr. Schwarzenegger isn't the first actor to run for governor of California -- Ronald Reagan won the governor's chair and went on to become president -- but comparisons between Mr. Schwarzenegger and Mr. Reagan have less merit than might seem.
Mr. Reagan's film career included able performances, but was decomposing by the time he entered politics. Mr. Schwarzenegger is no threat to Sir Laurence Olivier, but his Terminator 3 has been a greater financial and artistic success than Mr. Reagan's Bedtime for Bonzo. Mr. Reagan earned his political spurs backing Senator Barry Goldwater's doomed, right-wing presidential campaign in 1964. As a long-time activist, Mr. Schwarzenegger worked for his ballot initiative to fund after-school programs and has been one of Hollywood's more outspoken Republicans. Unlike his films roles, he's been more talk than action.
Celebrities in U.S. politics have been both hailed and bewailed. Conservatives attack supposedly left-wing stars who stick their noses into politics, yet most celebrity candidates have been conservatives, from Clint Eastwood, former mayor of Carmel, to representative Sonny Bono and song-and-dance man turned-senator, George Murphy.
There's more to
Arnie's appeal than his moderately conservative views, however. In backing an initiative to recall California Governor Gray Davis, he is tapping the emotions that propelled Mr. Goldwater and Mr. Reagan into prominence in the mid-1960s.
At that time, voters in California and across the United States were upset with the sexy, spendthrift times, and conservative Republicans resented the sway of moderates in the party. In California, these forces helped elect Mr. Reagan and other Republicans, and fomented the anti-tax initiatives that helped decimate the once-proud schools that Mr. Schwarzenegger now proposes to fix through platitudinous fiscal conservatism.
Those platitudes strike a chord against a steady background beat of resentment. Californians are fed up with Governor Davis. They blame him for the sins of his predecessors: energy problems that drove up prices and led to summer blackouts, and federal cutbacks that damaged California and other states.
Still, the Governor did bungle politically; he mismanaged the budget and barely won re-election. Politically, Mr. Davis is on life support.
Now , Mr. Schwarzenegger hopes to pull the plug. His quest immediately invited comparisons not only with Mr. Reagan, but with Jesse Ventura, who turned a wrestling career (and a term as a mayor) into the governorship of Minnesota as an independent. Mr. Ventura benefited from similar disaffection with traditional politics and politicians. Significantly, the two established parties failed to take him seriously. Democrats even encouraged his candidacy, hoping he would draw away Republican votes.
In the wrestling match that is California politics, Democrats take Mr. Schwarzenegger seriously. The Terminator runs amid parties divided internally by problems of principle and practicality.
For Democrats, keeping control of the governor's mansion is the issue; many would prefer to terminate Mr. Davis, whom they don't much trust. Other candidates who could draw strong support include the Green Party's Peter Camejo, who drew 5.3 per cent of votes in 2002, and liberal columnist Arianna Huffington, running as an independent.
Republicans want to gain power -- and Mr. Schwarzenegger may prove to be their best route -- but for the ideological purists among them, that may not be enough. Thus Mr. Schwarzenegger's decision to run for governor now rather than waiting for 2006 may be shrewd. His moderate views on choice and gay rights make him anathema to right-wing Republicans who question his commitment to their cause.
And the timing is good for Mr. S.: Governor Davis seems to engender some of the same hatred from Republicans -- and some Democrats -- as former president Bill Clinton. Ironically, Mr. Schwarzenegger's likely success at attracting votes from Republicans who want to win, and non-Republicans who are sick of Mr. Davis, is tied to Mr. Clinton.
Mr. Davis reminds many voters of Mr. Clinton's perceived habit of selling out to the highest bidder. And Mr. Davis doesn't even have Bill Clinton's charm.
There's another way in which his candidacy recalls the Clinton era. In 1992, and to a lesser extent in 1996, Mr. Clinton owed his success at least in part to a third-party candidate: Ross Perot. Mr. Schwarzenegger hardly seems comparable to the candidate that journalist Molly Ivins once called "the vertically challenged billionaire who sounds like a chihuahua."
And yet Mr. Perot was possibly the first candidate of the 24-hour, tabloid-television age. He announced his candidacy on a talk show, offering nostrums and business experience instead of specifics and knowledge of political policy.
Compare that to Mr. Schwarzenegger, who used Jay Leno's The Tonight Show as his venue to spring his surprise. Committed to good schools and a favourable business climate, he never met a simple answer he didn't like.
Despite Mr. Perot's claims of conspiracies and plethora of pie charts, he won nearly 20 per cent of the vote in the 1992 presidential election and about half that in 1996. Why? He was a success in business, which stamped him as an individual entrepreneur to be heeded. He was well-known. He also took advantage of public discontent with politicians who seemed out oftouch. Mr. Schwarzenegger faces similarly uninspiring political adversaries. Republicans and a supine media applaud his business acumen. His name recognition is spectacular. And he saved the world in so many films, California should be easy.
But voters might ponder a comment by another actor-politician: "So much of our profession is taken up with pretending, with interpretation of never-never roles, that an actor must spend at least half his waking hours in fantasy, in rehearsal or in shooting." Those words are from An American Life, Mr. Reagan's autobiography. For Mr. Schwarzenegger, the political reality of campaigning and governing might prove as pleasant as it was for Mr. Reagan. But if he is rejected in the election, his political career will be terminated.
Michael Green teaches U.S. history at the Community College of Southern Nevada.