Arnold (or Ar-Nuld as he is known as) Schwarzenegger, in case you don’t know is a 56 year old former bodybuilding champion born in Graz, Austria. He is slow spoken but more intelligent then I thought before I’d written this article. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in business and economics. He was appointed by Bush Sr. as the chairman of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, a job he took resolutely and with much adherence. That was the first step he had ever taken toward politics. Skip to present day where we have Arnold as one of the Republican front-runners for governor of California. Now a lot of people want to vote for him on account of the fact that he is a major film star of this generation. Truth be told, a lot of my personal favorite popcorn films star Arnold. This piece is not meant to be against voting for him but that you should vote for what you think is best for the state. If you like his views and ideas, whenever he chooses to state them, then by all means make your presence felt on the recall date. One thing that you college liberals should consider is that he is a Republican. He is not as far right wing as Simon but he would open the floodgates for conservatives, like Simon, in what is a typically liberal voting state. To hear it from a “Conservative Californian” Martin Devon states, “…Schwarzenegger is probably as far right a person can be and still be elected governor right now. If you’re a conservative Californian, put a paper bag on your mental picture of Arnold’s head and pull the lever for him. You have to start somewhere.” The most positive point I can make about Schwarzenegger is that, like Ralph Nader (you may hate Nader but I admire him), he doesn’t need the support of corporations to get elected and he won’t be “in their pocket.” Another point to consider is what his personal views are. Even though he won’t have any overt say on the subject, he is pro abortion. Plus he has strong feelings about schools in California and was pivotal in getting the after school initiative Prop 49 passed. On the other hand he has very little in terms of political experience and beyond that he has not announced a financial plan to “bail us out.” Maybe he realizes that no matter who takes over it’ll take more then four years to fix our problem. Trying my hardest not to show bias I want to share a real quote from Arnold when asked about his campaign, “I know how to sell something. I had to sell bodybuilding when nobody knew what bodybuilding was in this country – and we did it. And I had to sell myself as an action hero, which wasn’t easy when everyone said, ‘Hey, your name is Schwartzenstein’ or something like that. And you have an accent. You have this overdeveloped body. No one could ever be successful with this kind of a combination. And I did it, because I sold myself to the American people and the people around the world. And the same is here. It’s up to me to sell to the people and to convince the people that I can do the job.” He doesn’t exactly put himself in a very kind light and he really allows his meaning to be misconstrued. If you want to hear my take on the recall I don’t think it should happen. But since it’s all but a certainty that it will take place I still don’t know who to vote for. I am a registered Green Party member but I only vote if I know the issues well enough. Regarding the recall I am still undecided and not entirely against Schwarzenegger, if that helps you see the mindset in which I approach this. I mean he has never held an office before, but that may be a positive or negative. Also, he’s not a politician — neither good nor bad as well. I want to end this by saying if this seems like an opinion piece without an opinion you are sort of right. But that was the way I wanted it to be so that you can make your own choices. Maybe even do some outside research on all the candidates. Because this state is yours as well as mine and you do deserve better.