Mr. Ordinary Could Eclipse Schwarzenegger in Calif.

[Democat]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Bald, pudgy and short, Cruz Bustamante until recently did not even have a college degree. But the Mr. Ordinary of California politics could prove the terminator to Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger in the race for governor.

Until a few weeks ago, Bustamante, 50, was working largely out of public view as lieutenant governor, a job that rarely makes headlines. Then he became the only major Democrat to jump into a special recall election against Gov. Gray Davis, and some polls now show him leading movie star Schwarzenegger.

"I don't have his physique so I can't compete there, and I also don't have his checkbook, so I can't compete there," Bustamante told Reuters in an interview at his campaign headquarters, referring to "The Terminator" action hero.

"Even though I don't have Arnold's physique, my best ideas come from between my ears and not my biceps."

"I don't come to this naively. I've been here (in elected office) for 10 years. I understand that in many cases campaigns are in 30-second blurbs and it's the sort of showmanship that takes place."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1896&e=1&u=/nm/politics_california_bustamante_dc

[Demobrat]

1. Cruz has a sort of nice, reassuring way about him.

He may not be a condom stuffed with walnuts (thanks Molly), but he's the kind of guy you wish was your uncle. Ahnold, on the other hand, is the kind of guy you hope you never meet in a dark alley.

[David__77]

3. And an assuring, attractive voice...

Some women have called his voice sexy. I thought that was funny. I'm very enthusiastic about working for both the no recall and the Bustamante campaign.

[rocktivity]

5. A couple of DUers got upset when he announced his budget solutions

But I thought it was exactly the right thing to do under the circumstances. It made him look experienced, competent, and in control. Arnold, and McClintock for that matter, have yet to respond.


rocknation

[IMayBeWrongBut]

12. Call me shallow but..

I'd rather have a Billionare for an uncle :)

[chaumont58]

2. Re: the recall campaign

I'm a California resident and I think most of the cable news shows are as full of shit as a xmus goose. I think I heard(but I am not sure)Willie Brown talking about a Clinton whistle stop tour of the state during the last week. It may have been more like a threat than reality, but if both Clintons and some or all of the Dem candidates were to come out here during the last week and do bus tours of the state(trains won't really work), I think the effect would be electric. I think it would galvanize the Dem electorate. The one thing the repukes don't wont is a big Dem turnout. I don't think many Dems are going to vote FOR the recall and/or for Ahnold or Tom or Peter or whomever the repukes want to thow out there.

[rocktivity]

4. Voters' marches and rallies all over the state would be cool, too

like the ones we had in NYC earlier this year. Speakers could educate the public on what's really going on, and target the mainstream media, too.


rocknation

[mitchtv]

7. so far I have written the Dean for america campaign

I intend to write all of them, but i don't have the email addresses link anyone? We need everyone of them out here the first week in OCT plain and simple. California is a priority. If they do it here it can happen anywhere.and will

[LynneSin]

6. I'm not keen on Bustamente, but he'll do

We need to keep California with a democrat in the state house - a legitimate one. I hate this whole recall election, but hopefully it'll resolve a few issues.

From what I've heard, they've been trying to recall Davis since he first got elected. Hopefully once this recall is done, Californians will be less likely to sign a recall petition when the realize what they get is a 3-ring circus where someone with less than 10% of the vote (and with 135 candidates even less than that) could be governor. Plus when Californian's see the final bill they'll realize that republican Darrell Issa made California the laughingstock of the country.

I think this campaign will also ruin the career of "The Terminator". If Arnold loses out to an average nobody like Bustamante, then his credibility as a future candidate will be ruined. I really believed that Arnold would not run because he knew if he lost he could not only never run for office again credibility-wise, but his career would take even a deeper nose dive. Schwarznegger has always been out there as a potentional threat to run for governor, hopefully a loss for him will assure us THAT'LL never happen again. One actor as governor is enough for that state!!

[jiacinto]

9. I hope so too

But I am taking nothing for granted.

[Mz Pip]

8. I haven't seen

any nekkid pics of Cruz on the Internet. Nothing of him in his shorts, either.


It's a good thing.

Those conservatives should be rally behind Cruz.

MzPip
:dem:

[Rebel_with_a_cause]

10. Why did Bustamonte use the word "nigger" recently?

Bustamante used the N word much more recently and apologized profusely to the black community, saying he had misspoken. About Schwarzenegger’s statements to Oui magazine, Bustamante declared, “People don’t care about these things. They care about the issues. This is not the time to look back.”

http://www.laweekly.com/ink/03/41/deadline-finke.php

Do you know what the context was? I don't.

[Demobrat]

11. This is the first I've heard of it and I'm in CA.

Seems like the Repukes would be making hay left and right with that if it were true.

[AP]

13. Listen to him talk about it with Tavis Smiley here...

http://www.npr.org/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=14&prgDate=20-Aug-2003

[Maeve]

14. In context--"more recently" than 1977

AP's link(see post #13) fills in the rest of the details--he says he garbled words and ravis Smiley accepts his explaination and apology.

[0rganism]

15. "Ordinary, bald, pudgy, short, uneducated, of politics, out of sight"

Odd for a non-editorial piece to use that kind of lingo, wouldn't you say? See how much other prejudicial language you can find!