Kutcher Following Other Actors Running For Congress?

The Kuchter '10 campaign is alive and kicking. I know some of you out there are skeptical about Ashton Kutcher taking on Congressman Steve King (R-IA). King after all is a seasoned politician. He served in the Iowa Senate for six years before being elected to Congress in 2002. However, there is a history of actors becoming successful politicians.

Let take a look at some of the of the actors that led the way for Ashton to make his run for Congress.

• Ronald Regan - The hero of the Republican party. He stared in over 50 films, became the Governor of California and then went onto become the 40th President of the United States.
• Clint Eastwood - Star of Dirty Hary and Academy Award Winning Director became the Mayor of Carmel, CA. He was no match for his opponent and didn't have to retire from movies to do the job. He only served one term which would work for me and get Rep. King out of office.
• Fred Gandy - Played Gopher on the show Love Boat, actually showed Iowa how this is done. After opponents tried to say he was a "fancy educated fool actor" he won anyway. Sounds like something King's people would try on Kutcher who played Michael Kelso on That 70's Show. Kelso was not exactly the smart character on the show.
• Sonny Bono - Partnered with Cher he stared in The Sony and Cher Show. He became Mayor of Palm Springs and then went on to Congress. Because of his celebrity status, Bono was able to reach across party lines and make many friends on the other side of the aisle.
• Jesse Ventura - Known for his professional wrestling career, Ventura was able to transition into acting with roles in movies like Predator. He was elected to Mayor of Brooklyn Park, MN by beating the 18 year incumbent. He then went on to surprise everyone by winning the election for Governor of MN by beating out the two mainstream party candidates (one being Norm Coleman).
• Arnold Schwarzenegger - Know as The Terminator Arnold has starred in numerous blockbuster films. He was elected Governor of California in the 2003 in a recall election. He won after only running for 2 months which shows his use of his celebrity to get the word out.
• Al Franken - Another example of someone that played a "funny guy" as a star of Saturday Night Live and was able to run a successful campaign for the Senate. He is currently waiting on the final ruling so he can be sworn in as the latest actor to become a representative of the people. This was the most expensive race in Senate history and shows the power of celebrity to fund raise. Another interesting point is that Franken had no previous political experience.

There are many others that could be discussed here like Shirley Temple Black and Jerry Springer that have done the same thing.

Some got involved because something happened to them personally that they wanted to overcome, others got involved because they wanted to make a difference in the bigger picture and replace the incumbent. The common thread is that by being a celebrity the amount of free press and attention that candidate draws is huge. Even if they are not succesfull their ability to expose what the incumbent is doing is amazing. And frankly, if people really knew what Rep. King was saying in Congress on a daily basis they would be shocked and appalled.

With Ashton's amazing ability to control the web and social media and the fact that everyone wants him on their show it would be easy for Kutcher to control the message. Also, the fund raising possibilities are endless. I could not be more excited for Kutcher vs. King 2010. It will be a great day in Iowa politics when King loses his seat.

Lezzymom has two kids and a wonderful partner. Her political commentary has appeared on C-Span and CSPAN.org. Visit her Lezzymom blog for more of her insights.

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King Opens His Mouth Again

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Congressman Steve King (R-IA) had more to say this past week when he spoke at the debate for the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

During the debate Rep. King tried again to claim that the Hate Crimes bill really should be called a "Thought Crimes" bill.

He tried to show that it is hard to define someone's sexual orientation because there is a different definition in many reference books.

See the video below for how he tries to confuse members of the House:



He continues by trying to compare what this law is to the George Orwell book "1984" and that if this law is passed we will create "thought police." I find this very interesting since things in this country got a little too close to the book during the Bush-Cheney era. Watch the Congressman here



But one of his "best" moments this week was when he called the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus "separatists" groups.



The term separatists seems to be used here in a derogatory manner such as Anti-American. King's point is that we need to accept each other and embrace our differences. This is very interesting since he has made clear he is unwilling to treat everyone the same, especially when it comes to gay marriage.

Congressman King, I would love to see you start to listen to your own words and treat everyone with respect and embrace each individual for who they are, not who you think they should be or how they should act.

Congressman King, I hope you are ready for the 2010 elections. The Kutcher campaign will be getting a lot of backing - the gays, the african-americans, the hispanics, the muslims...I could go on because there are so many groups you have not been able to embrace and accept.

Podcast - Episode 5

Episode 5 of "Thoughts From A Lezzymom" is now available FREE on iTunes. You can subscribe and listen to it here. Please use the tell your friends link in iTunes and spread the word about the show.If you don't have iTunes use the player in the sidebar on the blog to listen to the show.


In this episode of the podcast I discuss the latest in LGBT news. Some of the topics are the "firsts" our community has seen over the last few weeks. As well as an update on the possible police discrimination case that I had discussed on the blog.

Following the news we have a great interview with Ellen Kahn the Director of the family project for the Human Rights Campaign. We discuss the possibility of LGBT adoption becoming the new issue to attack in the next election cycle.

Also, Ellen tells us about the new Welcoming Schools program designed to provide the elementary schools tools so they can better service our families.

Our song of the show is by Hotel Eden and is called "The Take - Home". Hotel Eden is actually the solo project of Kelly Warner. His new album A Way Back Home is scheduled to release May 26, 2009. You can get more information on the Hotel Eden website. You can always find new and great music on the Podsafe Music Network which is where I found out about Hotel Eden.

Finally I give my thoughts Representative Steve King from Iowa. He has been attacking the LGBT community for years. His latest show was put on during the mark up of the Hate Crimes bill this week. I go through his sordid history of comments over the years. My favorite is,

"Unicorns, leprechauns, gay marriages in Iowa -- these are all things you will never find because they just don’t exist."

Um, I guess Iowa should be on the lookout for unicorns and leprechauns cuz the gays are getting married next week!

However, I have an answer to Rep. King in the 2010 election. I'm calling for Ashton Kutcher to run against him. Now I can't take credit for this idea but believe me Kutcher 2010 needs to happen so we can get this guy out of office.


Thanks for listening and remember you can send me comments and show ideas by emailing me at lezzymom@gmail.com.