Recall: The Chicago Tribune Editorial

Governor Gropinator

This is what the Founding Fathers worried about, that the masses would be moved by some slick-talking demagogue or lured by fancy tricks instead of substance in making their decisions. The founders planned to control this by severely limiting who could vote.

That, of course, wasn't exactly the "equality" America represented. And so sometimes elections in this country are textbook affairs, based on debates and issues and reasoned opinions. And lots of times they're stranger than fiction.

Californians are moving toward putting Arnold Schwarzenegger, admitted (and contrite) groper, into the governor's mansion. The muscle-bound Austro-Californian conceded he had "behaved badly" in the past after several women accused him of various levels of grabbing, groping and humiliation. Sorry, he says. If he wins, he promises to be a "champion of women."

Is this enough to keep him from being elected? Let's see, first we heard he was smoking pot in a weight-lifting movie and made some references in a magazine interview to group sex and the benefits of sex before competition. Then there was a campaign based essentially on a refusal to face any unpleasantries about plans to solve California's abysmal financial troubles. Then there was that chuckle about sticking a woman's head in a toilet in a movie. And he's still the front-runner. The Gropinator now approaches Election Day. If he wins, the people of California will get exactly what they deserve.