ELECTION NOW ULTIMATE 'REALITY SHOW' RECALL CAMPAIGN HAS BECOME A HIT AROUND THE WORLD.

Byline: Valerie Kuklenski Staff Writer

Gov. Gray Davis' recall election has become a television news hit.

On newscasts, talk shows and entertainment magazine programs, Davis and many of his 135 would-be successors - notably former box-office champ Arnold Schwarzenegger - along with pundits and insiders are providing the key ingredients of drama, conflict, comedy and, of course, lots of interesting characters.

But all the chatter from local stations, Fox News, ``Access Hollywood'' and ``The Tonight Show With Jay Leno'' - on which Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy Aug. 6 in unprecedented fashion - has yet to help the electorate sort out the wheat from the chaff.

``We Californians are not only consumers of entertainment; we are also citizens,'' said Martin Kaplan, associate dean of USC's Annenberg School for Communication and a specialist in politics and culture. ``While we're being fed the richest possible diet of 'politainment,' we're being starved as citizens.''

Tom Hannon, political director for CNN News Group, said the story had received prominent play internationally as well as at home.

``It's got a rare thing,'' Hannon said. ``It's a tabloid story that's got good government overtones. It's got something for everybody.''

He admitted that Schwarzenegger's international fame had pushed the story to the top of worldwide newscasts and the front pages of foreign newspapers. ``Without him, this would be far different, how we treat it domestically and internationally.''

Comedians, of course, are having a field day with the state long perceived in the rest of the country as the land of fruits and nuts.

The ``Late Show With David Letterman'' on July 31 listed ``The Top 10 Reasons Arnold Schwarzenegger Is Not Running for Governor of California.'' Soon after he jumped into the race, ``Late Night With Conan O'Brien'' had a gap-toothed Arnold impersonator doing one of the show's ``Clutch Cargo'' talking-head routines.

Leno, CBS' ``Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn'' and Comedy Central's ``The Daily Show With Jon Stewart'' have taken many pot shots at the Oct. 7 election. Kilborn recently suggested that all the media attention it is receiving ``threatens to turn the Kobe Bryant trial into a dignified proceeding.''

Davis has been upping the video appeal of his daily routine with camera-worthy bill signings. He appeared via satellite Aug. 8 on HBO's news-talk show ``Real Time With Bill Maher,'' on which the host made clear his opposition to the recall.

The hundreds of cable channels afford some candidates opportunity for free exposure, such as A&E's airing last Wednesday of the Schwarzenegger episode of ``Biography,'' without broadcasters' equal-access regulations coming into play.

Campaign consultant Richard Lichtenstein, who is not allied with any of the candidates, said the ``contenders'' - eight to 10 candidates with a chance of winning, in his view - ``need to see if they can continue to stay above the fray'' in deciding how and where to appear on camera and relate their messages.

So what's acceptable media exposure for the rest of the field?

``Anything and everything,'' Lichtenstein said. ``It's a free-for-all.''

A handful of those underdogs will have a chance for a first-of-its-kind debate Oct. 1 on the Game Show Network. Five candidates will be asked issue-oriented questions, and their answers will be judged by viewers responding to an online poll.

``I've always thought there was a lot of room for improvement (in the standard debate format),'' said Rich Cronin, president of Game Show Network and a self-described political junkie. ``There will be, at the end of our debate, a clear winner, not the spin-meisters who come in and say, 'My guy was better.'''

Leno, meanwhile, has invited all the candidates to be in the house Sept. 22 when he tapes his show. The NBC studio in Burbank seats 300.

For mainstream newscasters, the challenge will be in presenting voters with useful insight into the vast list of candidates in about seven weeks' time. KNBC (Channel 4) news director Bob Long said producers, editors and reporters would use their best news judgment each day in deciding where to focus attention.

``You cannot squander all your time on people who are not serious candidates, people who are doing this for a joke,'' Long said. ``People presume we will devote all our time to following Arnold Schwarzenegger around. That's not true.

``The candidates who are articulate and make a connection with the public will get covered,'' he said. ``We'll be calling the shots, not their press agents.''

That's good news for Davis, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, former gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon, independent challenger Arianna Huffington and a handful of others most likely to be taken seriously during the campaign.

But it probably means an uphill climb toward Sacramento for the likes of watermelon-smashing comic Gallagher, former kid star Gary Coleman, porn queen Mary Carey and the voluptuous bottle blonde best known for her self-promoting Hollywood billboards.

``If it was all about photo ops,'' Long said, ``Angelyne would get all the time.''

Valerie Kuklenski, [phone]

valerie.kuklenski(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(color) Arnold Schwarzenegger waves to the crowd as he arrives in Norwalk on Aug. 7 to file papers to run for governor.

Gus Ruelas/Special to the Daily News