LILEKS IS BACK, and he’s got some thoughts on the Schwarzenegger candidacy:

Will he win? Well, he’ll bring new voters to the polls – we saw this in Minnesota with Jesse. People who never voted will find it cool to vote for Arnie, and even though they might not be the most sophisticated participant in the process, they’ll probably intuit that a vote isn’t just a thumbs-up statement. It means something. Yelling “I bought your video” doesn’t really put an actor in your debt, but shouting “I voted for you” somehow does.

In any case, it’ll change a few minds about the possibilities of politics. All their life they saw politicians as nothing more than nerdy bloodless grinbots, and now here’s this guy: a giant with a gap-tooth smile smoking a Montecristo the size of Gray Davis’ shinbone. Heck yeah!

Only in America. And I say that as a good thing. Which reminds me: like all typical examples of American craziness, this will just horrify the Europeans.

I’m not saying that’s reason enough to vote for Arnold, or anything, but it’s certainly a plus.

Kaus and Beeblogger Daniel Weintraub have more on this. And early recall-booster PrestoPundit has a roundup of links relating to the announcement. Finally, Bill Hobbs leaves no doubts as to who he’s supporting:

So run, Arnold, run. Davis will smear you, tell lies about you, and try to bury you under a mountain of fear. You’ll be called every name in the book, and a few new ones Davis will invent, but you won’t recognize yourself in the portrait of lies Davis and his political thugs will paint of you. . . .

Davis can run a dirty campaign better than anyone. Californians already know that. But he can’t run the state, and Californians know that too. All the lies he’ll tell won’t matter much now. Ignore them. All the way to Sacramento.

Well, this will give people plenty to write about!

UPDATE: Andrew Sullivan has broken his vacation to endorse Arnold: “Yay! A pro-gay, pro-choice, hard-ass Republican!”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Tony Adragna has more — and Will Vehrs is back posting at Quasipundit! We missed you, Will.

I should also note that Arnold’s campaign is so far — as predicted first here, then in much more thorough fashion by Robert Tagorda — proceeding as predicted by his bodybuilding career. Wanna bet that used copies of Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder are to be found in Gray Davis headquarters already?

ANOTHER UPDATE: Begging to Differ has a roundup of blog reactions.