Also Ran (2006)

What if your local football team was celebrating its Super Bowl victory when the referee burst in to announce that a small percentage of the spectators were unhappy with the outcome and so the game would have to be played again? That's what it felt like to Paul Mariano when he learned that 12% of the California electorate could undue the results of a legitimate governor's election, and force a special recall vote. Also Ran examines the bizarre world of the 2003 California Governor recall election; an election that was unprecedented in California history, and soon became a circus, with a list of 135 candidates that included a porn actress, an Austrian bodybuilder and-oh, yes, Paul Mariano. As a public defender for 26 years, Paul was used to uphill battles. He had made a career out of fighting for due process and defending the little guy. To him, the recall was fundamentally unfair and favored big moneyed interests. Paul thought: "That's just not right!" So Paul did the only thing he could: He ran for governor as Davis' surrogate. He promised that, if elected, his first act would be to appoint Davis as chief-of-staff responsible for the daily governance of California. Also Ran is a documentary that follows Paul as he launches his candidacy, fights to be heard above the din of Arnold Schwarzenegger's cacophonous campaign, and tries to make Gray Davis realize that his only hope for remaining in office lies with the quixotic candidate from Contra Costa County. Using interviews, graphics and animation, Also Ran offers a vivid and insightful look at the populist origins of the recall process and the way in which moneyed interests co-opted that process and turned its populist purpose on its head. Also Ran is both a serious and whimsical look at the hijacking of democracy and one man's effort to take it back.