california recall election

The California recall election of Gov. Gray Davis is such, such fun for news junkies like myself. On October 7, there’ll be a statewide election with two issues: 1. Should Gov. Davis be recalled? and 2. If he is recalled, who should replace him?
Some of the potential craziness:
– There will likely be several Republican candidates for Issue No. 2. The state’s leading Democrats have said they plan on supporting the incumbent by not putting any candidates up for the race. (Someone like Dianne Feinstein would easily win Issue No. 2 if she ran — but she’d also essentially guarantee that the unpopular Davis gets recalled, since a majority of Californians would almost certainly consider her a better option.) So you could have a governor’s race in California — an overwhelmingly Democratic state — with only Republicans on the ballot!
– There will be at least one left-of-center candidate on the ballot: Peter Camejo, a Green Party candidate. If everyone else on the ballot is GOP, could this be the time for a Green candidate to break through?
– The election’s rules are quite clear: There’s no runoff if no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote. Whomever gets the most votes wins — even if he/she only gets 10 or 15 percent of the vote! This is the path Arnold Schwarzenegger will expect to follow if he runs — he’s got the name recognition to guarantee 10 or 15 percent of the vote, and if there are enough candidates splitting the electorate, that could be enough to win.
– That possibility grows more likely when you consider how ridiculously easy it will be to get on the ballot. All you need to do to be a candidate for governor is get 65 signatures on a petition and pay $3,500! That’s it! So, will there be some local Dem who says screw the state party, I’m getting my signatures and getting on the ballot? If so, and he’s the only D on a ballot with 15 Rs, he’s your next governor!
So here the big question: shouldn’t the Left Coast blogosphere unite behind someone — a fellow blogger, perhaps — and get them on the ballot? You can get 65 signatures in a weekend party, and $3,500 wouldn’t be that hard to raise in a PayPal account. There could be a virtual campaign! I’m serious — depending on how this shakes out, if the candidate in question is a Democrat, he/she stands a decent chance of being a contender. Any blog-based candidate is guaranteed media attention. (And is there a better resume line than “sixth place, governor’s race, California, 2003”?)
I’m serious here. Who’s going to step up to the plate?