San Francisco Chronicle: Politics as Unusual

[Jack Rabbit]

From the San Francisco Chronicle
Dated Wednesday July 30

POLITICS AS UNUSUAL:
Globe agape at state's 'rabble-rousing'
By Marc Sandalow, Washington Bureau Chief

The whole world is watching, and in some cases laughing, as California plunges into the uncharted waters of recall politics.
A combination of civic fascination, Hollywood obsession and outright ridicule is driving global coverage of Golden State politics, and coast-to- coast critiques of California's style of governing.
"The political landscape in the Golden State suddenly resembles nothing so much as an episode of reality television," read Sunday's Washington Post.
"Those who see governance as a high-minded, intellectual pursuit, had best avert their eyes from California in the months to come," warns an editorial in Monday's Cleveland Plain Dealer. " 'Ugly' scarcely describes what is about to unfold . . ."
The lack of a national election until 2004 has made the California recall the political story of the year. Interest is so high that the Foreign Press Center, a quasi-independent organization funded by the State Department, is taking 25 journalists from 11 countries on a three-day tour through the wilds of California next week and offering a primer to state politics.

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