Arnold Schwarzenegger elected Governor of California

Oct 08, 2003 by Ian Evans

“Tonight is the testament to just how important one appearance on the Tonight Show can be,” Jay Leno said, referring to the fact that governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger had kicked off his campaign on the comedian’s talk show.

After succeeding in body building and movies, the Austrian-born Republican successfully turned his attention to winning the top job in California. California voters decided to toss current governor, Gray Davis by a vote of roughly 54.3% vs. 45.7%. With that question settled, Arnold then led the replacement candidates with roughly 47.8 percent of the vote. The Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante had 32.4%.