During the 2003 California gubernatorial recall election, porn star Mary Carey was an independent candidate. Her 11-point platform included taxing breast implants, making lap dances tax-deductible, and the establishment of a “Porn for Pistols” exchange program. Before you laugh too hard, consider this: Carey placed 10th in an election with 135 candidates.
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After retiring from pro wresting, Navy veteran Jesse “The Body” Ventura aimed for politics. In 1995, Ventura was elected mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. In 1999, he was elected governor of the state, serving until 2003. Instead of seeking re-election, Ventura entered a new field, conspiracy theories, writing several books and hosting a TV show, “Conspiracy Theory With Jesse Ventura.”
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Sonny Bono began his political career by serving as mayor of Palm Springs, California, from 1988 to 1992. The “I Got You Babe” singer, songwriter, Republican and funnyman was then elected to Congress in 1994, where he served until his untimely death in 1998.
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Al Franken went from “Saturday Night Live” to the Senate. The comedian and author ran for a Senate seat in Minnesota, beating incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman in 2008.
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Former Republican Sen. Fred Thompson was more famous for his role on “Law & Order” and parts in “Die Hard 2” and “Ironmen” than his political career … that is, until 2008, when he ran in the Republican presidential primary.
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In 2011, 2 Live Crew frontman and First Amendment advocate Luther Campbell ran for mayor of Miami-Dade County on a predictably tongue-in-cheek platform that included taxation of strippers. Unfortunately, only 11 percent of voters loved him long time.
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Despite appearing in only a single debate and not having many of his political views known to the public, Arnold Schwarzenegger won the 2003 California gubernatorial recall election and allowed the word “Governator” to exist. Though he ran as a Republican, Schwarzenegger’s leanings gradually edged toward the left. The “Terminator” star served two full terms before going back to doing what he does best: No, not the housekeeper. Making movies.
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Roseanne Barr announced that she was running for president under the Green Party in 2012, with a platform that included abolishing taxes and currency in favor of a barter system. She placed fifth in the general election, losing to some guy named Barack Obama. Maybe if she were able to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” on key, she’d have had better luck.
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Motown legend Martha Reeves of Martha and the Vandellas served on the Detroit City Council from 2005 to 2009. She didn’t win re-election after her music schedule proved too difficult to juggle with pesky things like voting on bills.
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Before he started talking to empty chairs in an effort to campaign for Mitt Romney, Clint Eastwood ran a successful campaign of his own. The “Dirty Harry” star was elected mayor of Carmel, California, serving from 1986 to 1988.
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Shirley Temple Black may have had better luck in her 1967 bid for Congress if she had kept those curls. The active Republican lost to law school professor and fellow Republican Pete McCloskey.
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Actor, singer, dancer and Republican George Murphy was elected a US senator from California in 1964, later losing his seat to Democrat John V. Tunney.
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Helen Gahagan Douglas (seen here with husband Melvyn Douglas and California Gov. Culbert Olson) won a seat in the House in 1944 from California’s 14th District. During her term, she was rumored to have had an affair with then-Congressman Lyndon Johnson. In 1950, Gahagan Douglas ran for Senate and lost to Richard Nixon, ending her political career for good.
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On Oct. 16, 2007, Stephen Colbert announced he’d run for both the Republican and Democratic presidential nominations in his home state of South Carolina, noting that if he kept campaign spending below the $5,000 mark, he’d escape FEC regulations. However, once he learned that the fee to file for the Republican primary was $35,000, he abandoned plans to run as a Republican and stuck with the Democratic ticket. Unfortunately, the Dems didn’t appreciate the gesture: Although Colbert paid the $2,500 fee to be included on the South Carolina Democratic ballot, the state Democratic Party executive council denied him a place on the ballot. In November 2007, Colbert announced he was officially dropping his bid.
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Gary Coleman was yet another candidate in the infamous 2003 California gubernatorial recall election, with his campaign sponsored by the East Bay Express as a satirical comment on the race. He came in eighth out of 135 candidates, with 14,242 votes. And not one of them was his own: Coleman previously announced he’d vote for Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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The most obvious and successful celebrity political campaign of all: Ronald Reagan appeared in over 50 movies before being elected the 42nd president of the United States.
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Justin Jeffre, better known as the guy in the background in 98 Degrees’ videos, ran for mayor of Cincinnati in 2005. He received 708 votes in the primary, which he blames on Hurricane Katrina for a hurt turnout. Weird, we’d have thought it was because of “Give Me Just One Night (Una Noche).”
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Usually, being on reality TV will destroy anyone’s chances at a political career, but Sean Duffy may be the only exception. After appearing on MTV’s “The Real World: Boston” in 1997, Duffy, a prosecutor, was appointed a district attorney in Wisconsin in 2002. Duffy, a Republican, was then elected to the post unopposed in 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 2010 and again in 2012. Through his political career, Duffy’s public image has remained relatively unscathed … except for a moment caught on camera when he got too, er, confessional: Duffy said he was “struggling to get by” on his $174,000 salary in 2011.
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Wyclef Jean attempted to run for president of Haiti in 2010, but was disqualified from the race for a pretty good reason: He’s not a resident of the country.
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“The Love Boat” star Fred Grandy got tired of acting and entered the political arena in 1986, when he was elected to the House of Representatives from Iowa. He served four terms. Grandy left politics after losing Iowa’s Republican gubernatorial primary by 4 percent of the votes.
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