Arnie Off The Air

A black screen. Cutting through he darkness, voiceover man's gravely tones pronounce "One man alone can make a difference." Cut to A muscular torso sheathing a combat knife. "One man alone can fight back the darkness." Cut to the same rippling body pulling on a bandolier of grenades and applying black streaks of camo paint. "One man, one mission, one choice." Cut to an explosive montage of action sequences, Arnold shooting up the police station in The Terminator, tearing through guerrillas in Commando, facing off against the Predator and shouting "Screw you!" before killing mutant taxi driver, Benny, with a mining drill in Total Recall. "VOTE ARNOLD!" explodes across the screen. "In polling stations everywhere form Friday." It's not your average political campaign but it's exactly what Americans are afraid of. Lest impressionable voters be swayed every time Red Heat comes on the telly, Schwarzenegger's films have now been pulled from US cable network FX for the duration of the Californian gubernatorial elections. Ridiculous? Actually it's the law. The Federal Communications Commission's equal time rule requires that all candidate be given the same amount of air time, whether that be political campaigning or running around as a killer cyborg from the future. Other broadcasters in California are expected to follow suit by putting the star's films on the back burner alongside re-runs of sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, whose star, Gary Coleman is also running.