Fran Drescher Hopes to Turn New York into Nanny State

We all knew that something like this would happen once Hillary Clinton got promoted and hopped on the Chinatown express bus to DC. Leave it to Fran Drescher, the star of Razzie-nominated tour-de-farces like The Beautician and the Beast, to be the first (and the loudest) candidate in what will probably be a frenzied race for Hillary's vacated Senate seat. Drescher's smart, though. She announced her bid yesterday, catching would-be objectors off-guard.

But let’s not moan and groan too much—though given her diplomatic work, at least she’s at least had some experience. Besides, let’s remember, a similar frenzy ensued in the 2003 California recall election, which put Arnold Schwarzenegger—another actor with questionable taste in film roles—into the governor’s mansion. And barring the unfortunate passage of Proposition 8, the state still looks sunny. However, Drescher’s bid is unique in that should she win, she’ll be the first person to ascend from the television ghetto of the now-defunct WB to Clintonesque prominence—in three years, no less.