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Here’s to the losers

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Times Staff Writers

After the last two giddy months, we probably think we’ve seen it all: an unprecedented recall election, a roller coaster ride of charges and challenges and court reversals and, finally, the longest and arguably the weirdest candidate list on any ballot ever.

When the polls close on Tuesday, we’ll see another historical first. That night, there will be 130 candidates who could scarcely have hoped for a moment that they’d be elected governor. A few never even wanted to be -- they were just protesting the idea of the gubernatorial recall and hoped to be losers (if the recall vote fails). But one and all, they’ve got to think of some way to mark that Tuesday night.

The leading candidates will likely be doing the usual hotel ballroom thing. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom McClintock haven’t released their plans, but both will be in Southern California. Davis hasn’t announced anything yet either, although everybody knows Democrats generally party at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel. Cruz Bustamante has plans to be somewhere in Sacramento. At press time, Peter Camejo’s campaign was talking about a San Francisco hotel to be named later and Arianna Huffington, on the verge of dropping out, still had plans for parties at her L.A. and San Francisco headquarters.

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While the serious contenders have left their election night plans to the last minute, the also-rans have put plenty of thinking into the evening.

“I have to have a big bash,” says Dorene Musilli, a businesswoman who’s inviting 200 friends and supporters to her home in Boyes Hot Springs. “But there won’t be much to celebrate. I’d have made one hell of a governor.”

Likewise, 25-year-old Brooke Adams plans a party for 200 or more supporters at Cannons Restaurant and Terrace in Dana Point, and Paul Nave will have all his friends over to his multimillion-dollar Marin County house for champagne, jumbo prawns, tri-tip and chicken breast.

On the other hand, Jack Mortensen says, “I’ll be home drinking black coffee, watching the stupid TV set and mulling over all the things I now know.”

Ivan Hall will content himself with Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and mixed nuts from Costco at home in Redding. Iris Adam is going to Buca di Beppo in Santa Monica, “or some loud place where I can reserve a room and be loud and rowdy” with 20 to 40 friends, she says.

Ned Roscoe of Benicia figures on having chocolate whipped cream cake at his parents’ house. “You have to find dry chocolate frosting mix,” he says, “then mix it with whipped cream. The tough thing is to put the cake together, because it wants to slide every which way.”

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Used car dealer Mike McCarthy plans a liquor-free party at the San Luis Obispo Auto Museum; his signature dish is boiled shrimp.

Dick Lane is considering caviar and champagne for his family and friends (“both of them”) at home in Stanford. “I’ve been a Russian expert all my life,” he points out. “What would I eat but beluga?”

Marijuana legalization advocate Bruce Margolin plans an evening of vegan food and meditation in West Hollywood, with dishes prepared by raw chef Michael Mandel. He has sent us his dairy-free recipe for hempseed-pumpkinseed mock cheese.

Joe Guzzardi figures on a traditional barbecue at home in Lodi. “I might bake a cake,” he adds. “I won three blue ribbons for my cakes at the state fair this year.” Reva Renee Renz, who owns Deva’s Bar in Tustin, has been featuring a gubernatorial cocktail called the Gov Shot. It’s basically a kamikaze made with raspberry Stoli and cranberry juice in place of the lime. She’ll be serving those, of course, along with deviled eggs, meatballs, chips and dips.

Physician Ronald Friedman will host a party for 30 or 40 at his Woodland Hills office, featuring pizza and Costco hot dogs. Radio broadcaster Van Vo wants to have something at his Garden Grove office: “Maybe a few hundred people, maybe some music. We want to have all Oriental food -- Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese food.”

Kelly Kimball and Scott Mednick, who filed with the intention of promoting Butt Monkey Beer, will have a party featuring the brew at home in Calabasas (although neither drinks). “We don’t know whether we’ll serve food,” says Kimball. Lorraine “Abner Zurd” Fontanes was looking forward to Breyer’s chocolate chip mint ice cream at home followed by a massage, but on hearing of the Butt Monkey Beer party, she decided to go there as well.

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Leonard Padilla is taking 100 friends and family members to Luis’s Restaurant in Sacramento for Mexican food. Todd Carson is partying at Rudy’s Pub & Grill in Newport Beach, with supporters of his campaign. Chuck Walker will have a potluck at home in San Leandro, but with no liquor. “I don’t hang out with people who drink,” he says.

Georgy Russell expects 20 people for a pool party at her apartment complex in Mountain View for mixed drinks, salsa, chips and guacamole. Gregory Pawlik will have a family barbecue of hamburgers and hot dogs in Pacific Palisades, but without buns -- he’s on the low-carb Atkins diet.

Cheryl Bly-Chester of Roseville likes the idea of a potluck for her supporters at her friend Dana’s, or maybe at her mother’s place. Bly-Chester will probably make her famous confetti pasta salad. Meanwhile, Gino Martorana will be working at his restaurant in Kingsburg where he will be running an election of his own, inspired by a Taco Bell promotion: You can vote for a candidate by ordering a particular dish. “I’ll spot Gray Davis our bestselling dish too,” he says. “If he can’t win on that, he really can’t win.”

And finally, Gary Coleman is planning a quiet evening with friends in Beverly Hills. The menu will be Rold Gold pretzels and Dr Pepper. It will be, he says, “a wow of an evening!”

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The Gov Shot

Total time: 5 minutes

Servings: 1

Note: From candidate Reva Renee Renz of Deva’s Bar in Tustin.

1/2 ounce Raspberry Stolichnaya vodka

1/2 ounce Triple Sec

Splash sweet and sour mix

Splash Sprite

Splash cranberry juice

1. Pour the vodka and Triple Sec into a cocktail shaker filled with ice, then add splashes of sweet and sour mix, Sprite and cranberry juice. Shake quickly to chill and blend.

2. Pour into a shot glass or over ice and serve.

Each serving: 125 calories; 0 protein; 17 grams carbohydrates; 0 fiber; 0 fat; 0 saturated fat; 0 cholesterol; 6 mg. sodium.

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Where’s the party?

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Ken Hamidi

The place: Campaign headquarters in a Citrus Heights strip mall

On the menu: “It will definitely be beer and pizza -- that decision is made.”

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Gary Coleman

The place: At home in Beverly Hills with a few friends

On the menu: Rold Gold pretzels and Dr Pepper. It will be “a wow of an evening!”

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Brooke Adams

The place: Cannons Restaurant and Terrace, Dana Point

On the menu: Swedish meatballs, egg rolls, chicken fingers and jalapeno poppers

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Mike McCarthy

The place: San Luis Obispo Auto Museum

On the menu: Baked goods, “steaming bean coffee,” shrimp; sparkling cider instead of Champagne

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Gregory Pawlik

The place: Home in Pacific Palisades

On the menu: Hot dogs and hamburgers (Atkins style, without buns), and “all-American guacamole”

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