Call it substitute gratification if you want. Gary Coleman, the erstwhile, vertically-challenged “Diff’rent Strokes” star, has come out of years of post-career oblivion to announce his bid for a California Senate seat, it has been confirmed.
“It’s true that he’s planning to run and he’s taped his announcement in an appearance that was set up for him on Fox News,” Coleman’s publicist Michael Casey told Hollywood.com Tuesday. “He is formulating his plans now. UnderGround Online [www.ugo.com] is backing him financially.”
Coleman made his political aspirations public on the Fox News Channel over the weekend. While the former actor has yet to decide on his party affiliation, he told the news program that, “I’m such a radical with certain ideas and fundamental beliefs that I might have to run independent.”
Er, actually Coleman has to run independent if he wants to run at all.
You see, we did a little homework here after we got over the initial shock that came with the possibility of having Gary Coleman representing our state. And we found out that, at this late date, in order to qualify for California’s November 7 general election, Coleman can only run as an independent candidate, this according to the office of the Secretary of State in California.
UGO.com — Coleman’s reputed mammoth financial backer — is, of course, the same Web site that masterminded last year’s Gary Coleman Web-A-Thon wherein the actor’s personal items (including a date with Coleman himself that went for $4,000) were auctioned off to bail the bankrupt actor from financial ruin.
Besides coming out $10,000 richer from the virtual estate sales, the actor also got a gig out of the deal, becoming a guest columnist for the alternative entertainment site.
