California politics always get an extra sprinkling of interest from all the earnest movie stars who feel that a career embodying unattainable glamour well equips them for thoughtful endorsement of people and propositions. This year, they have embraced the more or less scientific issues of the environment, stem cells, and alternative energy.

In the 11th congressional race between Richard Pombo, despised by greens everywhere, and Jerry McNerney, Mr. Turbine:

Campaigning for Jerry McNerney: Jennifer Garner, All-American TV actress and wife of All-American Box-Office-Poison Ben Affleck.

Carefully not campaigning for Pombo: Arnold Schwarzenegger, the lovable gap-toothed movie-star governor of California.

Endorsing McNerney: The quite shaky but still charming Parkinson’s-afflicted actor Michael J. Fox, who dislikes Pombo’s conservative stance on embryonic stem cells.

And…

Supporting Proposition 87, to collect $4 billion by taxing oil to spend on alternative energy: impressively-mouthed America’s Sweetheart Julia Roberts, mob-movie regular James Caan and world’s tallest fictional female president Geena Davis.

UPDATE: A call to the Yes on 87 office reveals that the following additional celebrities are behind the proposition: Robert Redford (the Sundance Kid), Leonardo DiCaprio (apparently soon to play Teddy Roosevelt), Alyssa Milano (TV crush of millions), Maria Bello (of Thank You for Smoking), Eva Longoria (of TV’s “Desperate Housewives”), Jamie Lee Curtis (scream queen) and Ben Affleck.

Frankly, if I was trying to sell something, I wouldn’t involve Mr. Affleck, gleaming as his teeth may be. He has been seen praising the initiative with Barack “So-hot-right-now” Obama, who I think needs to explain to us how he can be on so many campaign stages at once. Quantum teleportation? Cloning? Anyway, I have one cautionary phrase for the junior senator from Illinois about managing hype: Snakes on a Plane.

California politics always get an extra sprinkling of interest from all the earnest movie stars who feel that a career embodying unattainable glamour well equips them for thoughtful endorsement of people and propositions. This year, they have embraced the more or less scientific issues of the environment, stem cells, and alternative energy.

In the 11th congressional race between Richard Pombo, despised by greens everywhere, and Jerry McNerney, Mr. Turbine:

Campaigning for Jerry McNerney: Jennifer Garner, All-American TV actress and wife of All-American Box-Office-Poison Ben Affleck.

Carefully not campaigning for Pombo: Arnold Schwarzenegger, the lovable gap-toothed movie-star governor of California.

Endorsing McNerney: The quite shaky but still charming Parkinson’s-afflicted actor Michael J. Fox, who dislikes Pombo’s conservative stance on embryonic stem cells.

And…

Supporting Proposition 87, to collect $4 billion by taxing oil to spend on alternative energy: impressively-mouthed America’s Sweetheart Julia Roberts, mob-movie regular James Caan and world’s tallest fictional female president Geena Davis.

UPDATE: A call to the Yes on 87 office reveals that the following additional celebrities are behind the proposition: Robert Redford (the Sundance Kid), Leonardo DiCaprio (apparently soon to play Teddy Roosevelt), Alyssa Milano (TV crush of millions), Maria Bello (of Thank You for Smoking), Eva Longoria (of TV’s “Desperate Housewives”), Jamie Lee Curtis (scream queen) and Ben Affleck.

Frankly, if I was trying to sell something, I wouldn’t involve Mr. Affleck, gleaming as his teeth may be. He has been seen praising the initiative with Barack “So-hot-right-now” Obama, who I think needs to explain to us how he can be on so many campaign stages at once. Quantum teleportation? Cloning? Anyway, I have one cautionary phrase for the junior senator from Illinois about managing hype: Snakes on a Plane.