DEMOCRATS TRY TO DRAFT SURPRISE TO STOP TERMINATOR

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - In a state trying to come to terms with the
extraordinary prospect of ousting its governor and replacing him with the
Terminator, activists in the San Francisco Bay area are stirring things up
even more by trying to recruit reformed conservative Arianna Huffington to
enter the race as the progressive alternative.

The possibility of the SUV-hating Arianna squaring off against the
Hummer-loving Arnold for the right to replace California Gov. Gray Davis is
creating a buzz from San Francisco to Santa Monica. One eager supporter has
already dubbed the potential matchup ``The Hybrid vs. the Hummer.''

In any other election, the notion of progressive Californians rallying
behind Huffington might seem strange. She's a onetime anti-feminist
Republican, New-Age devotee who divorced her husband after the former
California congressman outed himself as gay in Esquire magazine.

Yet Arianna advocates say the movement to draft the syndicated columnist
seems to be gathering steam.

`ANTI-DRUG WAR'

Leading the charge is Bay Area activist Van Jones, director of the Ella
Baker Center for Human Rights in San Francisco. Jones and the fledgling
campaign have unveiled a Web site -- www.RunAriannaRun.com -- to generate
en-thusiasm.

''She's anti-drug war, tough on corporate crime, anti-war, anti-Bush,
pro-environment, pro-electoral reform -- and smart as hell,'' Jones wrote in
an email sent out last month to dozens of activists. ``If anybody could pull
this off, it would be Arianna.''

So far, Huffington has done nothing to knock down the idea. Jones said
Huffington was ''flattered, but noncommittal'' when he recently raised the
idea with her, and vowed to talk to him more about it.

Huffington couldn't be reached for comment.

But that isn't stopping the movement -- which is already drawing surprise
support from Green Party candidate Peter Camejo, who said he might bow out
of the race and support Huffington if she em-braces a progressive agenda.

''I'd be perfectly willing to withdraw and consider supporting someone
else,'' Camejo said. ``I think it could be rather interesting if she got
into the race.''

The Draft Arianna movement arose out of simmering concerns among
left-leaning Californians that the Democratic Party's strategy of supporting
Davis by keeping other Democrats off the ballot is a ``suicide mission.''

The prospect of having no one to support as an alternative if Davis is
ousted has many liberals nervous. In a recall election, voters would be
asked two questions: whether Davis should be recalled, and who should be his
replacement. If enough Californians vote to oust Davis, the alternative
candidate with the most votes would quickly take over.

''I think the recall is despicable,'' said Hollywood film producer Robert
Greenwald, a liberal activist pushing Arianna's candidacy. 'But . . . given
Gray Davis' position on everything from corporate money to prison guards to
social justice -- there's no possible way I could find myself in a position
of supporting him.''

Although some liberals are sympathetic to Camejo's campaign, many say he has
neither the cash nor the cachet to win. Arianna has both.

With Republican actor Arnold Schwarzenegger toying with joining the battle
to oust Davis, liberals began trolling for an alternative. Greenwald and
Jones had the same epiphany: Arianna.

DARLING OF THE LEFT

The 53-year-old daughter of a Greek newspaper publisher has undergone a
political transformation in recent years. Once a darling of the right, she's
now a darling of the left.

She began her career as a conservative who questioned the feminist movement
and castigated liberal ideas.

After Sept. 11, 2001, Huffington abandoned her Lincoln Navigator for an
energy-efficient hybrid Toyota and took gas-guzzling Americans to task.
Earlier this year, she helped produce television commercials spoofing
federal government ads that linked casual drug use to international
terrorism. Huffington's ads suggested that SUV-driving Americans were
helping to fund terrorists by gobbling up oil from the Middle East.

Huffington began her life in America as an ambitious New York socialite. She
married Michael Huffington a few years before he launched his brief
political career by spending $5 million in 1992 to represent Santa Barbara
in Congress. Two years later, he lost a costly battle to unseat U.S. Sen.
Dianne Feinstein.

During the race, Arianna was portrayed as the power behind the throne who
was manipulating her less-astute husband for her own political gain. She was
forced to admit her ties to a California New Age guru, and to acknowledge
that they had hired an illegal immigrant as a nanny.

After Huffington admitted he was gay, Arianna divorced him and began a
career as a political pundit.