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Having to put Jesse Jackson on hold so I could take a call from Al Gore. 

Those early body-building photos of Arnold Schwarzenegger; I’ll never feel weird again. 

Hearing both Cruz Bustamante and Gray Davis acknowledge that it would be insulting to expect anybody to get to work on time if they had to take the  

bus, revealing that public transit is just a myth. 

Having the East Bay Express definitively prove its allegiance to sensationalism by arranging for the candidacy of Gary Coleman. 

Arianna Huffington’s decision to drop out of the race, proving that at least one third party candidate can do what she called “third grade arithmetic.” 

Having the Green Party prove yet again to the nation that they can’t do third grade arithmetic. 

Hearing that Democratic strategists thought focusing on Schwarzenegger’s sexual misconduct was “doing the smart thing,” thus allowing him to get away with a policy-free platform, and proving that Democratic strategists have all the depth and foresight of a rear-view mirror. 

Watching local Berkeley strategists make the same error, as though Schwarzenegger voters were people lusting for a moral compass from a body-building film star. 

Watching the Republicans close ranks behind Schwarzenegger. 

Being surrounded one morning in West Virginia by people who had heard that Schwarzenegger had declared his candidacy and just wanted to see my face when I heard the news. 

Carol Denney was the editor of the late lamented Pepperspray Times.