Post date: Oct 19, 2010 10:44:22 PM
New York Times best-selling author Ian Halperin is staging a 48-hour hunger strike and "bed-in" at New York's Warwick Hotel in support of amending the U.S. Constitution to allow Arnold Schwarzenegger to be elected president of the United States.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 19, 2010) REUTERS - Arnold for President? That's what Ian Halperin, author of the Schwarzenneger biography "The Governator" is hoping for. In fact, Halperin is lying in bed for two days straight without eating in hopes of launching a campaign to change the U.S. Constitution and enable the California Governor to run for President.
"His friends have told me that on his checklist right now is to amend the Constitution and become President of the United States. Now there are going to be a lot of nay sayers. A lot of people in the U.S. do not want the Constitution changed. I find the Constitution highly discriminatory. That's why I'm here today. John Lennon and Yoko Ono did a bed-in in my home town in Montreal and I'm doing the first book bed-in ever to raise awareness to change the Constitution so that Arnold can run for President," Halperin told Reuters TV.
Halperin spent several years researching the new book, which was released in stores on October 19th. He said he interviewed those close to Schwarzenegger and even flew to his home town in Austria. He said he uncovered new details about Schwarzenegger's womanizing, but the most compelling revelation was about Schwarzenegger's political aspirations.
According to sources within Schwarzenegger's inner circle, the one-time body builder turned actor turned politician is planning to leave the Republican party, launch a campaign to amend the U.S. Constitution, then run as an Independent for the U.S. presidency with Michael Bloomberg as vice president in 2016. The U.S. Constitution says that only people born in the United States can become president.
The book also looks at Schwarzenegger's rise to fame and the allegations that he is a womanizer.
Schwarzenegger's term as California Governor will end in January 2011, but he has not yet announced details of his plans for the future.
"No one ever thought Arnold could be Mr. Olympia, no one ever thought he could be Governor of California. Arnold has clearly proven that whenever people think he is the under dog time and again he proves them wrong. And in this case I believe we will see Arnold Schwarzenegger be able to become president of the United States," Halperin said.
Several websites including www.popeater.com have stated that Halperin is having trouble publicizing the book because Schwarzenegger's camp is unhappy with Halperin's unauthorized account of the governor.
Halperin said he will soon appear as a guest on The Howard Stern show and that several news outlets were coming to speak with him at the bed-in.
As for the Schwarzenegger team's reaction -- he said he heard the team thinks the book is "fair," it "was not a hatchet job" and he said he also heard they were "impressed".
Halperin said that the bed-in is in no way a publicity stunt. He truly believes that the U.S. Constitution should be changed so that immigrants like himself can have every opportunity to succeed to the best of their ability.
Halperin emigrated to the U.S. from Canada and spends his time between homes in Miami and Los Angeles. He is the author of the best-selling book, "Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson".