Was there a "Jay Leno effect" in 2003 California recall?

[underpants]

Leno still rules late night back then. The Tonight Show was still based in LA at the time. Every morning news recap of late night (that was a thing then) featured him and very often there was a joke of some sort about the recall. He also had the zoo of candidates on, both Ahnold (announced on his show I think) and a porn star.

Do you think that had an effect in 2003?
Was the absence of Leno a factor in 2021?

[marble falls]

1. No, but his jaw is the elephant in the room. I just never got Jay Leno.

[CrispyQ]

4. He once said, "I have a face like an anvil." -nt

[Buckeye_Democrat]

7. The only thing I "got" from him is that his only real principle...

... was to be popular and seem nice, which made me want to puke.

I prefer comedians like John Oliver and Stephen Colbert far more than the likes of Leno. When something outrageous happens in the news, they treat it as such.

I can only imagine Leno's monologue after the Jan. 6th insurrection, if he was still a TV host. Probably something like this, to help him avoid being viewed as "one-sided":

So did you hear about what happened at the Capitol today? Democrats are very upset about it, of course. And they've also been critical of HOW it was done, saying that the Trump supporters didn't do it right because they didn't even steal TV sets during their break in.

As John Oliver said about Leno, "You Can Go F*ck Yourself."
https://www.indiewire.com/2019/03/john-oliver-calls-out-jay-leno-civility-slut-shaming-lewinsky-1202051737/

[Dream Girl]

2. No. Never found him funny, never got it.

[obnoxiousdrunk]

3. In 2003

it was Arnold Schwarzenegger. The whole world knew who he was. Not the case with Larry in 2021.

[Auggie]

5. Yes & No

The Tonight Show appearance gave Schwarzenegger a jump start due to his his celebrity and "toughness" monikor (I recall people saying "The Terminator" would make a "cool" governor).

Elder is not Schwarzenegger and California is more polarized and more Democratic than 2003. Nobody -- Leno, Trump, Jesus -- could have helped him.

[quaint]

8. +++

Truth

[Deep State Witch]

6. Tired Clenis Jokes

Even after Bill Clinton left office, Leno was making tired, outdated jokes about The Mighty Clenis.

[Mr.Bill]

9. A long time ago I liked Jay Leno as a stand up comic and

a guest on David Letterman. I'm somewhat of a car guy and I identified with him because he was, too. Fast forward and on his show in the 90s, his monologue had morphed into 20 minutes of derogatory Clinton jokes. He had become one the multi-millionaire car collectors that were ruining the car hobby for the average person by paying six figures for cars that I had paid a thousand dollars for in the early 70s.
I was pretty much done with him by then.
I have heard him and read him saying more than once that if he was getting equal amounts of hate and fan mail from liberals and conservatives, he was doing it right. I can't say I blame him for that, but it doesn't appeal to me. To this day I can't tell you where he is at politically.

[underpants]

10. Interesting perspective Mr. Bill

The car part. Thanks.