A Puzzlement

[stoutfellow]

The following is not intended entirely seriously.

There is a general perception that Hollywood and the USAn entertainment industry in general are hotbeds of political liberalism. I find it striking, therefore, that all the actors who have been elected to office, at any level, that I can bring to mind have been Republicans.

Think about it. George Murphy. Ronald Reagan. Fred Grandy. Fred Thompson (OK, that's a marginal case; he was a lawyer and a politico before he was an actor). Sonny Bono. Clint Eastwood. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Am I missing anybody?

If you extend the definition of "entertainer" to include athletes - not a notoriously liberal bunch - the picture changes a little. Jim Bunning, Vinegar Bend Mizell, Bob Mathias, J. C. Watts, Tom Osborne - all Republicans. Bill Bradley was a Democrat, of course, and Jesse Ventura ran on the Reform ticket. Does Gerald Ford count? Byron White comes to mind - he was a Democrat, though he proved to be quite conservative on the Supreme Court - but he wasn't elected to anything.

Anybody else?

Comments

[bibliotrope.livejournal.com]

Lynn Swann is running for governor of Pennsylvania as a Republican. That adds him to three people already on your list who played pro sports in Pittsburgh. The others being Vinegar Bend Mizell (I think his given name was Wilbur; he was on the 1960 team that beat the Yankees in the World Series, and quit baseball to run for Congress soon after) and Jim Bunning who played baseball for the Pirates (though Bunning is better known for his stints with Philadelphia and Detroit), and "Whizzer" White, who played football for the Steelers when they were still called the Pirates. (I think it's how he earned the money for law school, though the pros didn't pay nearly as much then as now.)

Alan Page, formerly of the Minnesota Vikings, is a state judge now, but I'm not sure which party he belongs to. Minnesota is kind of weird about parties anyway, which reminds me of Jesse Ventura, if you want to count him. (The eternal question: is pro wrestling really a sport?)

[sraun]

Minnesota is kind of weird about parties anyway, which reminds me of Jesse Ventura, if you want to count him. (The eternal question: is pro wrestling really a sport?)

Either it's a sport or entertainment - either way, Jesse counts towards his figures!

He ran as an independent - I would say his politics were fiscally conservative and socially liberal.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Elections to the MN Supreme Court are nonpartisan. I can't find anything about Page's political inclinations, but in the late '80s he was involved with the Urban League, for whatever that indicates.

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

Here's Justice Page's official bio from the Minn. court's web site.

http://tinyurl.com/bgbmf

I interviewed for a clerkship in 1993 with the Minnesota court (which meant a group interview with all seven justices.) I recall catching Justice Page's attention when I discussed my writing sample.

I had written an unpublished article on the first opinion of the Colorado Supreme Court in Romer v. Evans (which proved not dissimilar to the final opinion by that court, but very different from the eventual Supreme Court opinion). At the time, Oregon was in the midst of a series of initiatives attempting similar anti-gay legislation, and the Colorado court caught my attention by arguing that strict scrutiny under equal protection could be triggered by impairment of the right to political participation. This essentially meant that the court had to rule that there was a substantive component to political participation, instead of merely the procedural rights to vote and petition. (After Lawrence v. Texas, it is now entirely possible that sexual orientation can be argued as a suspect or semi-suspect classification, in light of the removal of the Bowers v. Hardwick roadblock.)

I described my interest in the case as coming from the Colorado court's unusual approach to equal protection. Justice Page asked what I meant. I explained that Colorado had introduced the concept of substantive political participation, but the discussion then went in a different direction.

Unfortunately, I didn't get the job.

(The closest I got to a clerkship was in late 1995, when a justice from the Alaska court called me for a phone interview to fill an unexpected vacancy. I understand I was the second pick.)

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Yes, I checked the bio, but there's nothing explicit about his party affiliation. It's consistent with being a Democrat, but also with being a moderate Midwestern Republican.

[sraun]

Actors tend to support their politico or cause of choice, rather than running for office themselves. Remember what's-her-name who was so strongly anti-Vietname War, who went to Hanoi?

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Actors tend to support their politico or cause of choice, rather than running for office themselves.

That's true of most people. But it's a bit surprising, I think, that - among the minority of actors who do choose to run for office - the vast majority seem to be Republicans, especially if the majority tilt the other way.

[oilhistorian.livejournal.com]

Some more fodder:

While not a politician per se, Charlton Heston is certainly very active w/the NRA.

Steve Largent (Seattle Seahawks WR) is a Republican Congressman from OK.

Richard Petty ran for office in NC as a Republican -- can't recall if he won.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Steve Largent

I knew I was forgetting somebody.

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

I think I have a counterexample. Rep. Ben Jones (D-GA).

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Indeed so. From what I can see, he served in the late '80s and early '90s. As I recall, Georgia was one of the last Southern states to tip Republican at the local level; do you happen to know when that happened? (I have some resources I can check when I get home tonight, if not.)

[filkferengi]

My Learned Spouse says GA went Repub in the 2000 & 2002 elections.

Hth. :)

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

That's consistent with what I remember; they elected a Republican senator (Mattingly) in 1980, but I think he only lasted one term. Both seats went Republican in the last two elections. I don't know about the House, but I'd certainly believe the 2000-2002 time frame.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Last two elections

I mean 2000 and 2002, of course.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Ack. Paul Coverdell was a Republican, right? Was he elected or appointed?

[filkferengi]

Our Learned Friend says that Coverdell got elected, with the help of the Libertarians [whose candidate got 2% of the vote & forced a run-off, which Coverdell won]. Ze Spouse has particularly fond memories of a commercial, in which a little old lady talks about how Wyche Fowler [the other candidate] was "too liberal for Georgia". Himself also suspects a song or poem may have been involved.

How's that? [cueing up the theme to "Mr. Ed", especially the part about "go right to the source, and ask the spouse; he'll give a good answer, then snore down the house" {blatantly untrue, but it rhymes & scans, which is as much as one can ask of any parody, especially after midnight.}]

Hth. :)

Everybody Loves a Rebel

[carbonelle.livejournal.com]

Or at least, they do in the U.S.: The fella' bucking The System, even if that system is just the Hollywood Establishment.

Besides, we know that any Hollywood actor who comes out as a Republican has guts to spare [g,d &r]

Seriously, though, the times they (may be) a-changin' (http://www.city-journal.org/html/15_4_urbanities-conservatives.html)