THE film star Arnold Schwarzenegger electrified the race to become California’s governor last night, throwing his hat into the ring after weeks of backing away from the contest.
His nomination transformed the bizarre but arcane battle to oust the unloved Democrat Gray Davis into a fully fledged political circus.
Mr Schwarzenegger, a Republican sympathiser and millionaire Hollywood star, had spent recent months flirting with the idea of running for governor, but aides had spent the past ten days saying that he was leaning against entering.
His announcement changed the dynamics of the campaign to topple Mr Davis, presenting the first real threat to the Governor’s authority.
Mr Davis has been trying to taint the recall process itself, going to court to argue that it is flawed. He hopes to prevent counting going to the second half of the ballot, in which voters choose his successor if the votes of the first half go against the Governor. But the presence of Mr Schwarzenegger on the second half of the ballot may persuade Californians, furious at years of power shortages, high energy bills and economic mismanagement, to get rid of Mr Davis.
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Diane Feinstein, the Governor’s biggest potential opponent from within Democrat ranks, said that she had decided against running, but many Democrats fear that gambling on Mr Davis’s survival could backfire disastrously.
Under complex rules designed a century ago, Californians will initially vote on whether to “recall” the Governor. On the same ballot paper they then vote for his replacement, should the count reveal that he has been toppled. Democrats have so far left the second half of the ballot paper an open field for Republicans, concentrating their campaigning into trying to ensure that Mr Davis’s survival in the first half renders academic all votes for other candidates.