August 28, 2003

Arianna is dead; long live Arianna

BY BARNEY BRANTINGHAM
NEWS-PRESS COLUMNIST

Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington breezed into town Tuesday with an upbeat social consciousness rap, trying to overcome her old Montecito social climber rep.

This is the new Arianna, you understand.

She sounded more like a Green than the ÜberRepublican who hobnobbed with the likes of Newt Gingrich and presided at GOP salons in Washington.

In the polls she's lower than a welldiggers's elbow, but in an interview she flashed wit, a dazzling smile and more IQ than the sum of all the other governor candidates combined, some of whom may have none.

Arianna, once the darling of Washington's GOP, reinvented herself as a political commentator, surprising the Beltway by writing columns and commentaries trashing her old mates and the Bush White House.

When I asked how she could account for her 180-degree philosophical turn, Arianna replied, "I was always a moderate. I was always interested in social problems."

Then Arianna, who's running as an Independent, uttered words that would horrify her former GOP pals. The reality, she said, is that "You cannot solve these problems without the power of the government.

"I've come to realize that we need government to solve these problems."

Later she said, "Millions of people are suffering due to the lack of regulation."

Back in her Montecito days, it's true, Greek-born Arianna tried to marshal private giving to deal with poverty. But now she's come to the realization that "it's easier to raise money for a museum," with patrons' names prominently displayed, "than a homeless shelter."

Unfortunately, she's running in a goofy election where the voters seem focused more on Arnold's Schwarzenegger's biceps and Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante's receding hairline than issues. Public support for the recall is falling faster than the bond market.

The Associated Press points out that, "In a state where one out of four people hails from another country, it hasn't gone unnoticed that many of the highest-profile candidates for governor in the Oct. 7 recall election are immigrants or children and grandchildren of immigrants.

"An Austrian-born movie star, a political commentator from Greece, the grandson of a Mexican immigrant, a first-generation Venezuelan-American and a Vietnamese-born radio host are among those seeking to replace Gov. Gray Davis.

"While the reaction from some immigrants is one of pride, it remains to be seen whether that will translate into votes."

Arianna, while promising Tuesday not to run a negative campaign, managed to trash Schwarzenegger as a "Bush Republican" rather than an independent-minded political outsider. She called him "a blast from the past" rather than a fresh voice.

His taxes-are-bad speech was just a "juvenile rant," she told reporters.

Bustamante, she claimed, is beholden to the gaming industry, which gave him more than $300,000.

When I asked if she was still driving an SUV, Arianna said she drives a white Toyota Prius.

Jokesters, she said, dub her campaign against Humvee-linked Schwarzenegger "The Hybrid versus the Hummer."

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