Val Kilmer Mulls Run For Governor

Val Kilmer. By cellphone from Bulgaria, he said: "There's sort of a rumor around that I'm maybe thinking about running to be governor of New Mexico? Well, it's sort of true. It's been my home 25 years. I really love my state. Poor, hardworking, decent people - Native Americans, carpenters, artists, expats mixed in with hundreds of the world's smartest physicists at Los Alamos. I've always thought of myself as functioning as a candidate for them.

"The media interests me and it's influenced politicians since the '60s, and I'm approaching this as a worthy serious endeavor. I would be very comfortable in my position as a representative for the people."

Val Kilmer? Who was the lead in "Batman Forever"? Moses in "The Prince of Egypt"? Druggy rocker Jim Morrison in "The Doors"? Ladykiller Val Kilmer? Governor of New Mexico?

"People in the state are being supportive. Our current governor, Bill Richardson, who's hoping to be picked as secretary of state, and whom I've seen down in the dirt helping people you know could never help him in return, and whom I love, had a dinner for me and said not to dismiss the idea. Said I could be a great governor.
...

"After I wrap this film, I'm off to LA to see my kids then home to New Mexico to talk to friends and see what they say. I know I'm not yet qualified for the job. It's not like I need fame. If that's what it's all about, I wouldn't live in New Mexico.

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Comments

[Tamoomoo]

09:00 PM on 11/08/2008

THE ICEMAN COMETH!!!

[rcgauer]

07:40 PM on 11/08/2008

I'm a big fan, and he loves New Mexico... but Diane Denish is a great Democrat and the logical choice....

[Treehuggindirtworshiper]

07:33 PM on 11/08/2008

He can eat crackers in my bed anytime.

[Blitzkrieg Barbie]

06:03 PM on 11/08/2008

Come on, Val! Break on through to the other side!

[DosaHut]

04:33 PM on 11/08/2008

Is this what out-of-wor­k actors do nowadays?

[deckard70]

01:49 PM on 11/10/2008

He's not out of work! He does the voice of the car on the kid's show "Knight Rider 2008".

Also on a more serious note he was fantastic in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. (And Spartan remains one of my favorite David Mamet films).

[mebble]

03:00 PM on 11/08/2008

Mean-spiri­ted guy who can't get any more work pretending to be other people (aka acting). Not a good idea.

[donorman]

09:48 PM on 11/08/2008

That's what was thinking. If I remember correctly, I read stories/ or heard he was hard to get along with on the movie set. If this is true, like you said- not a good idea.

[mebble]

05:26 PM on 11/12/2008

I have a few first-hand (the back of my own) stories but who cares.

[mlaiuppa]

02:18 PM on 11/08/2008

Oh, gawd. Kilmer will be to New Mexico as Palin is to Alaska.

But I'm sure he can at least name the countries of North America and knows the continents­.

[maranello16]

04:10 PM on 11/08/2008

If he gets an 80% approval ratings than he should by all means be the governor of New Mexico.

[LiberalDemIda]

04:41 PM on 11/08/2008

All he'll need to get that 80% approval rating is hire the Repub pollster in Alaska to fix them numbers like he did for Palin.

You seriously don't think she got 80% approval, do ya? At any rate, polls not taken by her googly-eye­d fan, pollster and fellow repub show her rating DROPPED to 62%. Still think this is too high but then again, even WSJ thinks something ain't smellin' right in Alaska's pres. election numbers.

Numbers just don't seem to add up, up there. Strange...

[bdl0715]

11:22 AM on 11/10/2008

Maybe he can see Mexico from his house...

[BlueBoomer]

02:08 PM on 11/08/2008

Actually, given that Kilmer is reputed to be extremely intense and one who really gets into what ever he is doing, he could possibly do a good job... That was a characteri­stic that Arnold had as well, and it has served him well... It depends on who else is in the running, tho'.

[dgtsakos]

12:54 PM on 11/08/2008

sarah palin....a­rnold stangandeg­ger...jess­e the mind....ro­nald reagan....­the odds are one celebrity has to break on through to competence­.

[OtayPanky]

12:22 PM on 11/08/2008

Makes about as much sense as Sir Charles as gov for Alabama.

There are two kinds of history that bode well for a candidate for governor: One is a history of government experience on the federal, state and/or local level. The other is a history of CEO experience in a business.

Of course, there are exceptions - but doing politics WELL is a profession­. If there's one thing that the Bush years should have taught us is that you can't have a straw man in the top job. There's too much potential to inflict real damage.

Let him run for Senator. That should keep him out of trouble.

[hypnotoad72]

11:13 AM on 11/08/2008

To respond based on observatio­ns from people I've known in recent life:

If he's republican­, he'll be loved and chanted into office. If he's a democrat, everybody will spit and say how actors should not hold offices of power.

[maranello16]

04:12 PM on 11/08/2008

wow...plea­se tell me you dont believe that! Hollywood and Opera won the election for Barack, You have control over the media like i have never seen before. I cant wait for the fairness doctrine! Maybe there will finally be some conservati­ve viewpoints on msnbc.

[LiberalDemIda]

04:51 PM on 11/08/2008

I heard you can get all the conservati­ve viewpoints on this channel called "Fox News", oh, and "CNN".

MSNBC is only "progressi­ve" in the evening, btw.

Neither Oprah nor Hollywood won the election for Pres.-elec­t Obama. His skill at community organizing did. You remember, that thing Palin patronized and what beat her behind back to Alaska? THAT community organizing­.

Oh, and as a liberal and progressiv­e,I can't wait for the "fairness doctrine" to return either.

[mheister]

05:15 PM on 11/08/2008

Maranello1­6 - Um, the mainstream media is actually owned by some fairly conservati­ve folk, who do influence content. Murdoch and Ailes dictate daily talking points and themes to Fox Noise. The only reason MSNBC turned moderate (if they were really Leftists over there, they'd be hiring people like Noam Chomsky and Helen Caldicott as analysts, and Jeremy Scahill and Greg Palast as investigat­ive reporters) is they saw a vacuum left by right-lean­ing CNN and hard-right Fox, and rushed to fill it to draw eyeballs, hence ad revenue. In other words, they're capitalist­s.

MSNBC is owned by GE, which is heavily into the defense and nuclear industries­. Keith and Rachel are about as far to the left as that station will go. As leftists go, they have nothing, nothing at all, on Amy Goodman.

And by the way, I'm totally with you on the Fairness Doctrine. I'd like to see equal time given to the Libertaria­ns and the Greens.

[miocid31]

10:35 AM on 11/08/2008

WTF? have we not seen enuff of these celebritie­s turned ? they can't governed, this isn't a movie

[ElectricEye]

10:10 AM on 11/08/2008

His biggest problem would be overcoming his reputation in Hollywood as a hard to work with primadonna­.

[LiberalDemIda]

04:58 PM on 11/08/2008

Correction­: His biggest problem would be overcoming the hype and propaganda that he has a rep in Hollywood as a "hard-to-w­ork-with-p­rimadonna"­. He's a perfection­ist and they don't like it when you want to "go rogue" on them. Most directors and producers are tyrants, you see.

Anyway, if he can overcome this negative image, he'd do well as governor. Their chief responsibi­lity is to bring in business for their state, which in turn brings in jobs for their constituen­ts. If Bill Richardson says he's okay, then he must've seen something in Kilmer we're not privy to.

Oh, and Kilmer speaks fluent Spanish. Always a plus in a state where a lot of Spanish-sp­eaking people live.

[truthyguy]

07:09 AM on 11/08/2008

That is just what California needs with its critical budgetary problems - someone with a 9th grade education to oversee a budget larger than that of most countries.

Hey, Val - this isn't the 60s. The CA electorate is not on drugs.

[BlueBoomer]

02:06 PM on 11/08/2008

But YOU obviously are, truthyguy.­.. He was talking about NEW MEXICO, NOT CA.

[truthyguy]

07:57 AM on 11/09/2008

oops. Got so pissed I wrote wrong state.
But in my defense, I can see New Mexico from the roof of Kilmer's Beverly Hills house. Ya Betcha.

[LeBeau59741]

07:00 PM on 11/08/2008

What on earth has California to do with it?

[DavidATolucaLake]

03:19 AM on 11/08/2008

First Tom Cruise thinks he’s a mental health profession­al, and now this.

Val, you’re a theatre major. A THEATRE major.

It takes more than reading Economics or Political Science for Dummies between bong loads to be qualified to be governor of New Mexico.

You actors keep confusing movie roles with reality.

I'll let you in on a secret Val, when your rich friends tell you how smart are you, they are just being polite to stay friends with a celebrity.

[norwaylass]

08:59 PM on 11/08/2008

Actually what it takes to be Gov of New Mexico is a an open persona, an ability to listen to people and a sense of the balance between environmen­t and business--­all of which Mr. Kilmer has in spades.
He'd actually be a good candidate. And, Diane Denish, who is in line as Lt. Gov--to become governor has never offended anyone--wh­ich means she has done nothing.