Did you know, my gentle Californian readers, that voting is actually irrational from a rational choice perspective? People who consistently go and vote are a mystery in political science. There’s just no real benefit for the non neglieable costs of doing so when your vote’s importance is infinitesimally small – that is, when you’re not living in Florida….

And here’s a reason to cast an unimportant vote in the Californian recall election:

Georgy Russell, the California Gubernatorial Candidate I recently endorsed, has filed her paperwork and paid the US$ 3500 necessary to have her name printed on the ballot. Go and check out her blog, she’s done some interesting math concerning the private value of a single, infintesimally unimportant, vote in this election…

Today Salon.com features a story about the Californian recall eletion’s party-dynamics, especially regarding Arnold Schwarzenegger, who’s views are not conservative enough for the Christian right, especially because Schwarzenegger does not deny the existence of sexuality, including his own. Apparently, this newly revealed picture of young Arnold carrying a topless woman on his shoulders is the worst blow to his campaign so far.

Most people, women and men alike, like female breats, for one reason or another. But why so many Americans are obessessed with breats as a political category, I will never get. In addition, the picture in all likelihood shows Arnold saving a surfer, don’t you think?

Oh, and should you wonder why I am not writing that much about the German equivalent to the Californian election, the Bavarian regional election – it’s simply because it’s the most boring election you can think of. I doubt any governing party in any free election has consistently been as successful as the Bavarian conservatives, the Christian Social Union (EU style conservatism with a Bavarian edge).

Seriously, the question this election is going to answer is simply the extent of their absolute majority. Governor Grey Stoiber is going to stay. Period. And now you know all there is to know about this election… although – come to think of it, I might write something about the fringe parties running in the election, although I have to disappoint you: There’s no porn star involved at all…

You know, I might actually be one of the few people who are not running in this bizarre Californian recall election. Given that running is possible with only 65 signatures and 3500 USD, I am actually wondering why the election should be restricted to US citizens. If Schwarzenegger believes he can terminate the current American Constitution to become President, having a foreigner running for Governor of California can not be too difficult to achieve, don’t you think? So if anyone wants me to run, please contact me for my paypal details… or click on that google ad in the right column until you need a new mouse.

Kidding aside, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Jon Carrol probably gets it almost right in his critical assessment of the recall election:

“Oh, the East Coast media is having such a wonderful time with our recall campaign. It seems to think it’s just one more example of our brain- dead, hot-tub-addled, surfboard-using, movie-star-worshiping culture.”

As I said, almost right. It’s not just the East Coast media. It’s the world’s media. And we’re laughing. That’s what happens when a global actor tries to think locally – just remember how many people know the name of Carmel, California for the simple reason that Mr. Eastwood was the town’s Major.

And Mr. Carrol suggests another comparison –

“The possible replacement candidates are laughably bad. Old GOP retreads seem to predominate, but the whole “maybe I can be governor” thing has taken on an “American Idol” vibe.”.

I don’t know if all replacement candidates are indeed laughably bad. Schwarzenegger is getting some rather decent commentary here and there. Maybe he is a good politician, after all. I don’t know, and, honestly, don’t care. If grown up Californians believe a freak show is the right way to deal with the state’s fiscal problems – who am I to challenge their decision.

Actually, quite to the contrary. If I can’t run myself, I am going to endorse a candidate. Not an actor. Not a writer. Not a porn star. And I don’t even do it because she’s cute or because, at least in the picture above, she looks almost exactly like my fomer flatmate Lucinda. I guess the most important reason for this endorsement is that I suppose she’s doing something I sort of did when I was 18 – running for office to see if it is actually possible to beat the matrix.

In the case of “Handeln Für Mainz – Die STATTPartei”, the local party some friends and I founded back in 1993, it wasn’t. So I hope that Georgy Russell, a software engineer who graduated from Berkeley, will be more successful than we were.

“Beauty, Brains, Leadership” is probably not the worst motto for her unconventional start-up enterprise. But I hope she does realise that neither of these three elements are in any significant way correlated to gaining any office.