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Jerry Springer: Show prevents Senate run in '04
(CNN) -- Talk-show host Jerry Springer has decided he will not make a bid for the U.S. Senate from Ohio while his program is still on the air. Springer spoke Thursday with CNN Anchor Heidi Collins about his choice. Below are excerpts from that conversation: COLLINS: Senator or ringmaster? After spending seven months and $1 million exploring a possible run for the U.S. Senate, Jerry Springer has chosen his talk show over politics. Springer says he thinks the public wouldn't separate his political message from his no-holds-barred TV show. So he's decided not to challenge the incumbent, George Voinovich [Republican senator from Ohio]. ... SPRINGER: ... Let me just say, I wasn't choosing the show over running for office. What I was saying is that it is impossible to run for office while the show is still on the air. And since I'm under contract to complete the next season, I recognized that I wasn't going to get my message out during the campaign, which is in '04, if my show was on the air during that time. So that was a very practical decision. One day I would like to run ... but it has to be when the show is over. COLLINS: Different timing I suspect. All right, we will get into that a little bit further. But I have to ask you, Jerry, with the events that happened [Wednesday] night and Arnold Schwarzenegger putting his hat in the ring for the governor of California, what is your reaction to that? SPRINGER: Well, I think I have a shot now to do "Terminator 4," you know? But, no ... God bless him. You know, he's going to have to make his case. You know, what celebrity does is it gets people into the tent. It gets you the audience. But once you have their attention, then you have to really be good on the issues. You really have to be able to relate to the concerns of the people that are going to go out and vote. ... That's still the test. He is certainly a nice enough guy. Does he have the right answers? ... We'll see. COLLINS: All right, well, we will get back to you now. I want to ask you about this contractual issue ... as far as abandoning the TV show and going ahead and making a run for the Senate? SPRINGER: ... I have a contract and ... I'd like to be honorable about it. I have a contract, and I'm going to finish the contract. That was never the question. You know, when I started exploring the idea of running, I told everyone going in that the show would run through '04. But then I started to realize that the people I have to reach are never going to get the message if during the course of the campaign the show is still going on or I have to go to Chicago to tape some shows. With that being the case, every day I would be defending the show, and the show obviously doesn't relate to political issues. COLLINS: All right, well, let's talk about a poll that was taken back in February, though. About 71 percent of Ohio voters had an unfavorable opinion of you. Let's go ahead and take a look at what the former chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party had to say about your exploration into running for the Senate seat. He said, "If he truly did the research that they said they were doing, then he's not running because it should show that he cannot win. The TV show is a major, major, major problem for him and for all Democrats if he were to run," said James Ruvolo, [former] chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party. So what about this contention that you didn't run because you didn't think you could win? SPRINGER: Yes, well, that wasn't the case. In fact, the research that we did -- in other words, if you ask people right -- first of all, it was four months old. But if you ask people on the street, Jerry Springer in the Senate, they go what? What are you talking about? That's not the question to ask though. The question is after they see a campaign -- and that's what you do in focus groups -- you show them what a campaign would be like. You show them me speaking on the issues that concern them, and you show them George Voinovich speaking on the issues that concern them. And then you ask them to vote. If you take that poll, then I win. The problem is that I would never get to be able to reach those people with the message that concerns them as long as the show is going on. So that's the issue. Can I win? Of course. I wouldn't have done this if I didn't think that I had a chance of winning. COLLINS: All right, well, let's take a minute to talk about the people that you are trying to reach. You have said that you want to represent a constituency that has remained neglected, talking particularly earlier about the lower and middle class. But some people say those are the exact kind of people that you take advantage of, if you will, on your show. SPRINGER: Yes, well, I totally disagree. ... I don't think we take advantage of people. I am hired to do a show about people involved in crazy situations, outrageous situations or people who are outrageous. I defy you to watch my show and tell me that those people are not outrageous. They are. That's what I'm doing. It's just like you do your show. You do a show on news. You do a show about people committing horrible crimes. Does that mean that you're a horrible person, that you endorse these crimes? No, that's what your job is. My job is to be an entertainer and to do a show about outrageous people. That aside, that has nothing to do with the issues that confront the people of Ohio. COLLINS: Clearly our news show is quite different than your show. SPRINGER: Doing your show is different? I did the news for 10 years, believe me. ... It's entertainment, sure. But ... it's a voluntary show. ... No one goes on that show that doesn't desperately want to go on it and get to talk about the issues they want to talk about. On the news, however ... people don't get on the news voluntarily. You do stories every single day on people ... and you never say if this story hurts you or this story embarrasses you or this story hurts your career or this story humiliates your family, we won't run it. No, you go, "Whoa, this is a great story. We're going to do it anyway." So I don't think that honestly in the news business, we can be looking at entertainment shows and say, "Oh, boy, look how bad they are." But anyway, let me just say this one thing, please. My show, whatever you think about it -- and I think it's a stupid show. I've always said that. But my show didn't shut down one factory. It didn't send us into Iraq. It didn't deny people health insurance. In other words, it has nothing to do with the issues that confront people in their lives today. They just want a chance of making it, and that's what politics ought to be about.
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