Is Arizona ready for the goatee of justice? The question may be academic, as “Actor Steven Seagal Says He Is Up For Arizona Governor Campaign,” AP reports in an article at CBS-Las Vegas:
The 61-year-old made the comments while talking about his newly released reality series “Steven Seagal – Lawman: Maricopa County.”
Seagal teamed up with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for the show that was shot in Arizona and airs on cable TV’s Reelz Channel.
The martial arts expert is a member of Arpaio’s posse, made up of 3,000 unpaid civilians. He also has been deputized with sheriff’s offices in New Mexico, Texas and Louisiana and says he wants to increase border security.
Power Line’s Steve Hayward is having plenty of fun with Seagal’s possible entrance into state politics:
One of my favorite moments from the Reagan years was the time Reagan was asked during a press conference for his thoughts about Clint Eastwood’s election as mayor of Carmel. Reagan said he never thought anyone who had acted with a chimp in a movie could ever make it in politics. Heh.
What about movie action heroes? I always thought it remarkable that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura were both elected governor; they appeared together in two movies—Running Man and Predator, both of which, come to think of it, could be film titles about political ambition.
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…while the news story doesn’t say what party he might affiliate with, it notes he’s pals with Maricopa County’s controversial law and order man, Joe Arpaio, who is normally regarded as right wing. Many of Seagal’s self-produced movies have featured stupid left-wing story lines, like Fire Down Below and On Deadly Ground. But I guess he’s made movie titles that qualify him for public office, such as A Dangerous Man and Born to Raise Hell. Though if I have to have another Hollywood celebrity in office, can’t it be Katey Sagal instead of Steven Seagal?
Heh. On the other hand, Steven Seagal isn’t just yet another actor who’s debating a political run; he’s perhaps the finest action star turned musician since Lee Majors sang the Fall Guy theme. Trust me, I know, all too well: 
- Click to enlarge to discover the nuanced blues stylings of Steven Seagal.
As I’ve mentioned before, my backgrounder with Seagal to prep for the article that Guitar World assigned to me as one of several pieces I contributed to their February, 2007 issue was the most surreal telephone interview of my professional career. Picture yourself on the other end of the phone line listening to a man who sounds like a cross between Brando’s Col. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, Bane in the last Batman movie, and Sterling Hayden as Gen. Ripper in Dr. Strangelove, and you can just begin to grok a sense of Seagal’s tone.
On the other hand, perhaps Seagal’s addition of narrow-framed glasses and distinctive chin topiary bodes well for his entry into politics in the state that pioneering conservative Barry Goldwater once considered home. As soon as I saw the photo of him that CBS-Las Vegas chose to accompany their article, the old Spy magazine recurring “Separated at Birth” feature sprang immediately to mind:
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