On a Roll...

BLESSED TO GIVE: When David Nelson’s 1995 Ford Escort gave up the ghost at 180,000 miles, he decided to do something charitable. Recalling Father Joe Carroll’s televised appeals for donations of used vehicles to his St. Vincent de Paul Center, Nelson dialed up the number he remembered from the TV ads: 1-800-FATHER JOE. Close, but not quite. Father Joe’s is an 888 number. 1-800-FATHER JOE got Nelson a sex-chat line.

THE ARNOLD: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger brought his reelection road show to San Diego with a lunch hosted by Doug Manchester at his downtown Manchester Grand Hyatt—and attended by about 50 well-heeled Republicans and Padres owner John Moores, a Democrat. The lunch (lobster hors d’oeuvres and steak and scampi) was no-charge, but the message was steep. The governor and his campaign staff suggested the maximum legal campaign donation—$22,300 each from the attendees and all their family members. How else do you reach a goal of $75 million for your reelection war chest—more than three times what Arnold’s political mentor, Pete Wilson, spent just a dozen years ago? Three years out of Hollywood, politics has improved his syntax and softened his accent. It also appears to have thickened his waistline somewhat. Speaking without notes, Arnold was spirited and on-subject. “We took over a huge mess in Sacramento when we took over two years ago,” he said, “and you should understand that, because you now have a mayor in the same situation.” He made it clear the state’s crumbling infrastructure will be his primary focus in the upcoming campaign. “Our levees are in a disastrous situation,” he said, “much worse than they were in New Orleans. But we’re in levee denial.” If these levees fail, he added, they could cut off the water supply to San Diego for more than a year (a message that was, coincidentally or not, front-page news in the local newspaper a day earlier). Recounting his success in rebuilding California’s economy, the body-builder/governor was quick to share credit. “There’s nothing I’ve ever done in life that I did alone—including this body . . . Which I don’t even have anymore,” he sighed.

THE WANDERING I: Accompanying the governor to San Diego was hometown boy Marty Wilson, who cut his political teeth with Pete Wilson when Pete was San Diego’s mayor. Marty’s key responsibility these days is building the Schwarzenegger campaign chest. “When we had millions in the bank,” he says, “the governor would introduce me as his ‘fund-raising genius.’ Then he read in the paper that the campaign was in debt, and he started introducing me as ‘Here’s What’s-His-Name.’ ” . . . San Diego weight-loss guru Jorge Cruise (The 3-Hour Diet) has been doing a steady gig on NBC’s Today show—coaching weatherman Al Roker, who’s been packing on the pounds again four years after his gastric bypass surgery . . . Cruise is just one of San Diego Magazine’s “50 People To Watch in 2006” who’ve turned up on national television in recent weeks. Rookie mayor Jerry Sanders appeared on Good Morning, America, and physician-author Mimi Guarneri was interviewed by Matt Lauer on Today . . . The New York Times has succumbed to San Diego’s urban lure. A recent Times travel piece concentrated on the Gaslamp Quarter, Ballpark District, Little Italy, downtown and Hillcrest, conceding “San Diego isn’t just about Shamu the whale and the Wild Animal Park anymore.”

ITEMS INFINITUM: As most predicted, real estate prices are moderating in most San Diego neighborhoods and dropping in others. But we’re still right up there. On television’s Fox & Friends last month, they flashed “The most expensive place in the U.S. to buy a home” on TV screens. The winner—or loser, depending on your view—“La Jolla, California.” . . . Meanwhile: The Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate has named the top five U.S. cities for their real estate investment dollars. This year, for the first time, San Diego cracked the top five—after Washington, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. But then they’re talking long-term investments, not house-flipping . . . The Marijuana Policy Project, battling our county supervisors over their attempts to overturn legalized pot for medicinal purposes, trotted out a poll that said two-thirds of San Diegans were for medicinal pot and against the supes. But the more interesting stats were farther down in the poll. Of those surveyed, 32 percent of Supervisor Greg Cox’s constituents had never heard of him; 34 percent of Pam Slater-Price’s constituents didn’t know her; 16 percent never heard of Bill Horn; and 15 percent of Dianne Jacob’s constituents didn’t have a clue who she was. Ron Roberts fared best of the bunch—only 4 percent didn’t know who he was.

TARGET MARKETING: When NBC announced a cattle call last month at the Mission Valley 24-Hour Fitness gym for contestants for its reality show The Biggest Loser, Mickey Schultz was skeptical. “Seems to me,” he said, “they’d get a lot better turnout if they held it at Krispy Kreme.”

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Listen for Tom Blair’s Friday reports on KOGO News Radio (600 AM) at 7:25 a.m. You can also click here to listen to his column.

Items for the magazine or radio may be e-mailed to tblair@sandiegomag.com.

© 2006 San Diego Magazine

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