Не знам, доколко изобщо на някого са интересни изборите в Калифорния, но това (взето е от Ройтерс) го поствам просто като пример за добра и смела (според мен) журналистика...като пример за това, което нашите журналисти би трябвало да си позволят, но не го правят...може би автоцензура, знам ли...но малко журналисти могат да си позволят да нарекат изборите в София, например "Добрия, лошия и грозния..." 
The good, the bad, and the ugly of Calif. recall
By Jill Serjeant
LOS ANGELES, Oct 3 (Reuters) - It was the best of times and
the worst of times -- depending on how you looked at it.
And when it came to the action-packed California recall
election there were almost as many ways of viewing it as the 135
often quirky candidates in the running.
A porn star flaunted her assets on national television,
Arnie got egged, political debates were briefly must-see TV, the
alphabet was jumbled up to ensure ballot paper equality, and the
pregnant chad -- last sighted in Florida in 2000 -- threatened a
comeback in the Oct. 7 vote.
California, the nation's most populous state, was dubbed the
laughingstock of the world -- or at least of late night comics --
as wannabes vied with has-beens for 15 minutes of fame in a
three-month campaign short on substance and long on style.
Heavyweights flocked to the Golden State -- CNN anchors,
former President Bill Clinton, would-be president Howard Dean and
billionaire investor-turned adviser Warren Buffet. Even the U.S.
Supreme Court almost became embroiled in the off-again, on-again
legal wrangling.
But above them all strode Terminator star Arnold
Schwarzenegger, flexing movie catch phrases and a Hollywood
perma-tan that seemed to deepen by the week as beleaguered Gov.
Gray Davis paled physically and politically.
As comic talk show host Jay Leno put it, it had become a
choice between "a robot from the future or a robot with no
future."
Rarely has state politics been such fun.
"I have never seen an election generate such excitement as
this one," said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political analyst at the
University of Southern California.
"In the beginning I thought 'Oh my God, what a circus!' But I
grew to understand what was going on and I think almost every one
of those 135 candidates had a reason to get involved."
JUST SUN, SEX AND SURFING?
But seriously....
The hectic campaign aimed at unseating Gray Davis, a Democrat
who was re-elected governor less than a year ago, put California
on the world map not just for sun, surfing and Silicon Valley but
as the state where politics had became either farce or a precursor
of the next big thing.
Pundits agonized over Republican-inspired plots, Democrat
dirty tricks, the apparent fixation with celebrity, and whether
the recall had energized politics or created democracy run amok.
Schwarzenegger's entry into the race as a Republican candidate
literally sexed up the campaign, turning it into a
politics-entertainment hybrid story that some analysts believe led
to a triumph of news quantity over news quality.
"Public attention went higher but public information declined.
No other candidate but Arnold could have said, 'I'm not going to
most debates, I won't tell you my position on most issues and I'll
campaign on Oprah.' Anyone else would have been laughed out of
town for that," said Raphael Sonenshein, a political scientist at
California State University, Fullerton.
Schwarzenegger's presence and the furor over his womanizing
past and old comments about Hitler ensured unprecedented
international media attention for the election of a mere state
governor. But officials in other U.S. states as well as foreign
governments scrutinized the recall for their own reasons.
OFFICIALS SCARED
"I think there is no doubt (the recall) has scared elected
officials (in the United States). They are very worried. Every
state out there, every single governor, is having his staff look
at their recall devices to see if they are safe," said M. Dane
Waters, founder of the nonpartisan Initiative and Referendum
Group.
Waters said countries drawing up new constitutions and
emerging democracies were fascinated by a process which allows
citizens to throw officials out almost as soon as they have taken
office when no crime has been committed.
"In some countries it is unheard of for citizens to question
their officials. A lot of governments are appalled but they all
want information about the recall," Waters said.
Californians have long shrugged off jokes and jaundiced
comments, knowing that the state has often served as a bellwether
for the rest of the nation and much of the world.
"Important things happen in California but it takes a while
for people to learn from it because they are having so much fun
saying how crazy everything is here," said Sonenshein.
"We have now created a lot of uncertainty about elections,
about when it is right to wait for the next election, or if there
should be a rerun of an election a year after to get a better
result. There is a sense that nothing is final.
"If Arnold wins, should Democrats begin a recall campaign six
weeks after he takes office?"
The good, the bad, and the ugly of Calif. recall
By Jill Serjeant
LOS ANGELES, Oct 3 (Reuters) - It was the best of times and
the worst of times -- depending on how you looked at it.
And when it came to the action-packed California recall
election there were almost as many ways of viewing it as the 135
often quirky candidates in the running.
A porn star flaunted her assets on national television,
Arnie got egged, political debates were briefly must-see TV, the
alphabet was jumbled up to ensure ballot paper equality, and the
pregnant chad -- last sighted in Florida in 2000 -- threatened a
comeback in the Oct. 7 vote.
California, the nation's most populous state, was dubbed the
laughingstock of the world -- or at least of late night comics --
as wannabes vied with has-beens for 15 minutes of fame in a
three-month campaign short on substance and long on style.
Heavyweights flocked to the Golden State -- CNN anchors,
former President Bill Clinton, would-be president Howard Dean and
billionaire investor-turned adviser Warren Buffet. Even the U.S.
Supreme Court almost became embroiled in the off-again, on-again
legal wrangling.
But above them all strode Terminator star Arnold
Schwarzenegger, flexing movie catch phrases and a Hollywood
perma-tan that seemed to deepen by the week as beleaguered Gov.
Gray Davis paled physically and politically.
As comic talk show host Jay Leno put it, it had become a
choice between "a robot from the future or a robot with no
future."
Rarely has state politics been such fun.
"I have never seen an election generate such excitement as
this one," said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political analyst at the
University of Southern California.
"In the beginning I thought 'Oh my God, what a circus!' But I
grew to understand what was going on and I think almost every one
of those 135 candidates had a reason to get involved."
JUST SUN, SEX AND SURFING?
But seriously....
The hectic campaign aimed at unseating Gray Davis, a Democrat
who was re-elected governor less than a year ago, put California
on the world map not just for sun, surfing and Silicon Valley but
as the state where politics had became either farce or a precursor
of the next big thing.
Pundits agonized over Republican-inspired plots, Democrat
dirty tricks, the apparent fixation with celebrity, and whether
the recall had energized politics or created democracy run amok.
Schwarzenegger's entry into the race as a Republican candidate
literally sexed up the campaign, turning it into a
politics-entertainment hybrid story that some analysts believe led
to a triumph of news quantity over news quality.
"Public attention went higher but public information declined.
No other candidate but Arnold could have said, 'I'm not going to
most debates, I won't tell you my position on most issues and I'll
campaign on Oprah.' Anyone else would have been laughed out of
town for that," said Raphael Sonenshein, a political scientist at
California State University, Fullerton.
Schwarzenegger's presence and the furor over his womanizing
past and old comments about Hitler ensured unprecedented
international media attention for the election of a mere state
governor. But officials in other U.S. states as well as foreign
governments scrutinized the recall for their own reasons.
OFFICIALS SCARED
"I think there is no doubt (the recall) has scared elected
officials (in the United States). They are very worried. Every
state out there, every single governor, is having his staff look
at their recall devices to see if they are safe," said M. Dane
Waters, founder of the nonpartisan Initiative and Referendum
Group.
Waters said countries drawing up new constitutions and
emerging democracies were fascinated by a process which allows
citizens to throw officials out almost as soon as they have taken
office when no crime has been committed.
"In some countries it is unheard of for citizens to question
their officials. A lot of governments are appalled but they all
want information about the recall," Waters said.
Californians have long shrugged off jokes and jaundiced
comments, knowing that the state has often served as a bellwether
for the rest of the nation and much of the world.
"Important things happen in California but it takes a while
for people to learn from it because they are having so much fun
saying how crazy everything is here," said Sonenshein.
"We have now created a lot of uncertainty about elections,
about when it is right to wait for the next election, or if there
should be a rerun of an election a year after to get a better
result. There is a sense that nothing is final.
"If Arnold wins, should Democrats begin a recall campaign six
weeks after he takes office?"