FRINGE CANDIDATES HAVE NO REGRETS

They Enjoyed the Race, Got a Few Votes

Losing can be almost as special as winning, at least when you come in dead
last for governor.

San Diego actor Todd Lewis garnered 172 votes in Tuesday's recall election
- -- the least of any of the 135 candidates, and fewer than his run for
president of his seventh-grade class. But instead of slinking away
unnoticed, Lewis, 27, found himself in the spotlight Wednesday.

"I'm thrilled about being the caboose," said Lewis, who was interviewed on
eight radio shows from Portland to Springfield, Ill. "People want to know
who I am."

For the past two months, Lewis and many of the so-called minor candidates
endured the ridicule of the national press, forked over their own money for
campaign fliers and wore out their shoe leather walking precincts. But in
the end, despite their poor showing, many said they don't regret a thing.

Larry Flynt, king of the Hustler porn empire, emerged as king of the 129
fringe candidates, finishing right behind the six major contenders. But
even Flynt, with 15,464 votes, logged less than 1 percent of the vote, far
fewer than the half-million his internal polls had predicted.

"It was fun, no doubt about it," said candidate Garrett Gruener, 49,
co-founder of Ask Jeeves, the Emeryville-based Web search engine, who came
in 29th with 2,179 votes.

Before dropping out last week, Gruener had spent almost $1 million of his
own money. That's about $459 per vote, or 77 times as much as
governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger's $6 per vote.

But it was worth it, said Gruener: "It was an investment in state politics
and my own future in it."

The minor candidates may wind up merely a footnote in history, but a few
highlights about the lowly group are worth noting:

* San Diego businessman George B. Schwartzman, who came in ninth ahead of
the better-known adult-film actress Mary Carey, may have benefited from the
similarity of his name to Schwarzenegger. Schwartzman, who dismissed the
idea that some of the 10,949 people who voted for him did so inadvertently,
garnered almost half of his votes in the six counties with the more
error-prone punch-card system.

* John C. Burton, a civil rights attorney from Pasadena, also may have
come in 13th place by riding on the coattails of powerful state Sen. John
Burton, D-San Francisco.

* Scott Davis, 38, of Palo Alto, may have had the reverse effect on
voters, by sharing the last name of ousted Gov. Gray Davis. Scott Davis,
who ranked 120th with 333 votes, also dropped out after the Mercury News
reported he had once been charged with murder. The charges were dropped for
lack of evidence and Davis says he is innocent.

* Mountain View software engineer Georgy Russell, who made $11,000 selling
campaign thongs, racked up 1,947 votes, coming in 34th, despite some early
publicity. She took her defeat in stride by introducing a new underwear
line featuring the slogan "Don't Blame Me. I Voted for Georgy."

* Vietnamese-American radio show host Van Vo and tribal chairman David
Laughing Horse Robinson ranked in the top 20, largely by appealing to their
ethnic base. Robinson, a Bakersfield artist and chairman of the Kawaiisu of
Tejon tribe, said he got most of his votes from fellow American Indians.
And Vo, of Garden Grove, captured 68 percent of his votes from Santa Clara
and Orange counties, home to California's largest concentrations of
Vietnamese-Americans.

* Marijuana-legalization attorney Bruce Margolin, in a likely testament to
California's tolerance of drugs, came in 11th with 7,981 votes.

* Former state Assemblywoman Audie Bock, who represented Oakland and was
the first Green Party candidate in the nation elected to a state
legislature, came in 22nd, well behind lesser-known and less-experienced
candidates.

As for Lewis, coming in last came as no surprise, since even he told his
family and friends not to vote for him. Lewis, in fact, voted for
Schwarzenegger: "I wanted my vote to make a difference."