Features

KevinTheOmnivore · #1

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...on/6610130.htm

Posted on Sun, Aug. 24, 2003

Leno's offer tantalizes, frustrates California candidates

BY PATRICK MAY
Knight Ridder Newspapers

SAN JOSE, Calif. - (KRT) - To Leno or not to Leno?

That is the question facing the candidates for governor of California.

Jay Leno has invited all 135 of them to be on "The Tonight Show" Sept. 22. Well, not exactly on the show, like his buddy Arnold Schwarzenegger when he announced his candidacy earlier this month. More like in the audience.

Some are plotting their own media events in Burbank, Calif., the same day as the taping, to tap into all the press hype expected around the Leno show. But many others have eagerly replied to NBC, even if they have to pay their way there and back.

Leno "can poke fun at us all he wants, but it's really tough to get this sort of public exposure," said David Laughing Horse Robinson, a candidate from Bakersfield. "Any time you can get free PR, you're a fool if you don't accept it."

Diana Foss of San Jose is thrilled to be going: "I see it as a perk of running for governor. How often do I get a personal invitation to go on Jay Leno?"

But others are conflicted. Won't Jay simply exploit them as comic fodder, use them as human props?

Darin Price, a chemistry professor at Humboldt State University, says Leno can stick it up his monologue.

"Hell no, I'm not going," he said. "Why would I pay $400 to fly down there to sit in the audience and be made fun of? Not only am I not going to respond, I'm thinking of selling my invitation on eBay. It's got a nice little address card and envelope."

It's a tough decision for many candidates, financially strapped and desperate to get their message out to as many voters as they can. Having your mug on TV, even for a flash, is a powerful aphrodisiac for many aspiring governors out there.

"Initially I thought this was just entertainment and not something I'd be interested in," said Bill Vaughn, a structural engineer from Lafayette. "But I talked to my sister-in-law and she said: `Bill you have to go. You never know how it might turn out. Maybe they'll decide they want to pull you up on stage or something. Who knows?' "

Doubtful, says Marc Valdez, a Sacramento air-pollution scientist who is boycotting the event. He feels Leno is abusing serious candidates by using them as part of the show but not letting them up on stage.

"Other candidates tell me I'm all wrong, that I should look at it as an invitation to a party," he says. "But in my view, the party came and went when Arnold made his announcement on Jay's show. That was the party. This would be a consolation party, because we're not the guests of honor."

Sacramento political consultant Gale Kaufman agrees. "I'd say don't go, because if you're a serious candidate you should get the play that Arnold got. Anything less is just for Leno's purposes."

This being California, a mini-revolt has broken out over the invitation. Angry e-mail is flying back and forth as candidates wrestle with the invitation. Audie Bock of Oakland thinks Leno should be ashamed of himself for blatantly exploiting the lesser-known candidates while giving Schwarzenegger "the complete forum." Peter Camejo's media representative, Tyler Snortum-Phelps, says the Green Party candidate "has better things to do than to sit in the audience of `The Tonight Show' and have Jay Leno make fun of him."

Cheryl Bly-Chester, a Roseville business leader, said, "If Leno's going to use his platform to make clowns out of us, we'll use him right back." She suggested candidates take advantage of all the reporters who will be on hand before and after the show.

Studio City lawyer Lawrence Steven Strauss, another candidate, contacted Burbank officials to get a permit to hold mass interviews outside the NBC studios. He hopes to hear back this week.

Now it appears the real show Sept. 22 may not be in Leno's lair at all, but on the grass across the street, in Johnny Carson Park.

---

© 2003, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.).