I love that "The Terminator" could possibly be the next governor of the great state of California. Arnold hasn't make a decent movie in a long time and he needs a new gig, so this makes perfect sense. We also have a long history of bad making actors making their way into the Governor's Mansion. He can't possibly do a worse job than the current holder of the office.

To get the feeling of the effect of Schwarzenegger in office, look into the mirror and say the following in your thickest Tyrolean accent:

"I wrote the legislation. I directed the legislation. I am the legislation".

Schwarzenegger Ends the Suspense
Actor Announces Gubernatorial Bid After Weeks of Speculation
By Brooke Brower

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 7 — Arnold Schwarzenegger knows how to grab an audience.

The former Mr. Universe and perpetual action hero kept Californians, Gov. Gray Davis, the Republican Party and national political reporters in suspense all day Wednesday before finally revealing on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno that he will run for governor in the California recall election.

The actor told Leno, "The politicians are fiddling, fumbling and failing."

"The man that is failing the people more than anyone is Gray Davis," Schwarzenegger added.

Surprise Announcement
Schwarzenegger told many people last week he didn't plan to run. He reportedly held many meetings over the last few weeks with his friend and neighbor, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, to discuss whether one of them would enter the race.

Some even speculated Wednesday that Schwarzenegger would use the Tonight Show appearance to announce Riordan's candidacy. But Schwarzenegger kept them all guessing until the last minute.

"He fooled everyone," ABCNEWS' George Stephanopoulos said on Good Morning America.

The actor finished a promotional tour for his new movie Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines last week. "As I always have said, when I'm finished with my Terminator promotion, I would deal with this issue of whether I would run or not," he said at a news conference after the Tonight Show taping.

Schwarzenegger also met recently with GOP leaders including former Gov. Pete Wilson. Schwarzenegger had been telling people he did not plan to run, at least in some part because of the wishes of his wife, journalist Maria Shriver.

According to sources, Shriver softened her opposition to a campaign when she realized how important it was for her husband to make the run.

"My wife told me that she would support me no matter what the decision is, and I decided that I would run for governor of this great state," the former body builder told reporters at a press conference.

"If she had been against my campaigning and my going for governor, I would not have done it," he said.

‘Carnival-Like Atmosphere’

With California's senior senator, Dianne Feinstein, saying Wednesday she will not run, Democrats seem to have already lost their marquee candidate. In a statement Wednesday morning, Feinstein said the recall race was becoming "more and more like a carnival every day" and that she thought staying in the Senate was the best thing she could do for her state. She later said Schwarzenegger's announcement would not make her change her mind.

Late Wednesday, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, the Democrat who currently serves under Davis, announced that he will join the race for the governor's job, striking a blow to Democrats' hopes that Davis would not face any serious opposition from within his own party.

Schwarzenegger's entrance will certainly do little to lessen the carnival-like atmosphere of the recall.

"I will go to Sacramento and I will clean house," the actor told reporters Wednesday.

Schwarzenegger is seen as a relative moderate compared with some of the other Republicans mulling a run, including 2002 GOP gubernatorial nominee Bill Simon and Rep. Darrell Issa, who largely financed the initial recall signature-gathering with his own money.

Issa is expected to announce his candidacy and file papers in San Diego today. Republican State Sen. Tom McClintock filed papers to run on Tuesday.

Schwarzenegger cited the state's $38 billion deficit and an education system that he described as "the last in the country" as some of the reasons motivating him to run.

"We just see things declining, declining and declining," he said. "California is being run now by special interests … and we have to stop that."

The entrance of both the relatively moderate Schwarzenegger and Gov. Davis' own second-in-command will make it much harder for Davis and fellow Democrats to argue that recall effort is simply a coup of right-wing interests.

In July, a Los Angeles Times poll of registered California voters showed Schwarzenegger in fourth place behind Feinstein, undecided and Riordan. With those two candidates eliminated, and with Riordan's supporters behind him, his numbers could rise quickly.

"Arnold Schwarzenegger. Finally a candidate who can explain the Bush administration's positions on civil liberties in the original German."
~ Bill Maher