| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
LOS ANGELES (AP) Defeat came easy to the fringe candidates in California's historic recall election.
A porn actress hosted a barbecue Tuesday night, a former BMW salesman treated friends to free champagne and a pornographer in a gold-plated wheelchair Larry Flynt spent the evening talking and joking with reporters.
Other longshots amid the election's 135 contenders included former ``Diff'rent Strokes'' child actor Gary Coleman, a sumo wrestler, a guy whose gimmick was a bright blue cowboy hat, and melon-smashing comic Gallagher.
All found themselves in the shadow of ``Terminator'' Arnold Schwarzenegger, who bested the entire field including Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante to win the governor's race.
The front runner among the also-rans was Flynt. With 98.8 percent of precincts reporting, he was in seventh place with 15,053 votes, or 0.3 percent, just ahead of Coleman's 12,488 votes or 0.2 percent.
Adult film actress Mary Carey was 10th with 9,756 votes, which rounded off to 0.2 percent. Gallagher was 16th with 4,762 votes.
What did it take to enter the fray? A $3,500 filing fee and 65 voter signatures, or no fee and 10,000 signatures.
The two X-rated candidates, Carey, the star of ``New Wave Hookers 7,'' and Hustler magazine publisher Flynt, were opposed to the recall even though their names were on the ballot.
Then why run? ``I didn't think I was going to get elected,'' Flynt laughed. ``The price was right and it was a great platform and I was able to get my views out,'' which included expanding casino gaming.
``I had a lot of fun,'' he added.
Carey did win something Tuesday: a prize of $21,200 in the Game Show Network's satiric ``Who Wants to Be Governor of California?'' contest. That's the maximum amount a company can donate to any one candidate. She hosted a barbecue party Tuesday night at the network's Culver City studio.
``I expected to have fun,'' Carey said of the election. ``I love cameras and am getting in front of them without getting naked and having sex.''
While she and a few others seemed to be in the race only for giggles, a few dark horse candidates jumped in to advocate deeply held principles.
Among the longshots with serious intentions were Jim Vandeventer, a Republican former car salesman who supported increased fiscal responsibility, environmental protection and legal unions for gays.
He hosted a champagne bar at the La Meridien Hotel in Beverly Hills, where supporters and a few other recall candidates gathered to watch election results on television.
Vandeventer spent about $20,000 on his campaign. The defeat party cost about $2,000, he said, provided no one caused damage to the hotel facilities.
Sara Ann Hanlon, an interior designer and independent candidate from Los Angeles, attended Vandeventer's party and said she ran with no false expectations.
``I didn't think I'd be the first woman governor of the state of California,'' she said. ``I had no delusions. I ran strictly to get the message out: we the people need to be represented, not big campaign contributors not special interests.''