October 8th: The Day California Elected the Governator

On October 8th 2003, Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor  for the state of California. The Austrian-American film star has previously appeared in The Terminator, Collateral Damage and Predator; involved himself in bodybuilding from a young age; and most recently put his hand to politics. 

  During the elections, Schwarzenegger was up against the existing governor, Gray Davis, who still had 3 years of his term to complete. The end results, however, stole the title from Davis with a straight victory of 48.7%, a whole 16% above his nearest rival. His victory speech revealed that he wanted "to be a governor of the people", and his initial act as Governor Schwarzenegger was to abolish the highly unpopular car tax rise that was made by Davis. Other acts caused controversy though, for example, February 2004 when he intended to rule against San Francisco's allowance of gay marriages. Schwarzenegger stated on the matter that they would cause "an imminent risk to civil order". Schwarzenegger ended his term as Governor of CA in 2011. What do you think about his political life?