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‘Superman’ Dean Cain Mulls Run for Congress

Actor Dean Cain is interviewed May 3 at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. (Christina Bellantoni/CQ Roll Call)
Actor Dean Cain is interviewed May 3 at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. (Christina Bellantoni/CQ Roll Call)

Actor Dean Cain, best known for playing Superman on TV, is seriously considering a run for Congress — someday.  

Cain, who starred in the popular 1990s series “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” is now eyeing California’s 33rd District, which is home to many movie stars. Cain’s roots run deep in the area — he grew up in Malibu and attended Santa Monica High School.  

“At some point in time, at a later date, it would be interesting, perhaps. Yes,” Cain said in a May 3 interview at the Washington Hilton, where he was attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner as a guest of RealClearPolitics. Longtime Democratic Rep. Henry A. Waxman unleashed chaos in the region in January, when he announced his retirement . Despite the fact that Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Malibu and Santa Monica fall within the district lines, no ambitious Tinseltown stars have jumped into the race.  

Should Cain eventually follow through with a run, he would not fit the Hollywood liberal stereotype.  

“I’m not really affiliated with a party, currently,” the Princeton graduate and former football player said. “If you say ‘independent’ in California, you become part of the Independent Party which was weird. I didn’t expect that. I wanted to be decline-to-state, so that’s what I am now.”  

“So for a couple of election cycles, I was in this American Independent Party, and I was a little ticked off, because I didn’t know what the heck that was,” he continued.  

Thanks to California’s top-two primary, it is not inconceivable to run outside of the Democratic and Republican parties.  

Asked if he’s a conservative, Cain said, “Fair read when it comes to things to do with the economy and individual liberties, for sure. But on social issues, I’m very, very far to the left.”  

As for who earned his presidential vote in 2012?  

“It wasn’t Barack Obama,” he said. “It was certainly Mitt Romney.”  

Cain said that he was not always politically ambitious.  

“[It’s] just the way politics has gone and what I’ve noticed in my life and the way it’s affected me and those who I know, it’s become more interesting to me, because I don’t necessarily agree with everything that’s been happening.”  

He said the two most important issues to him are education and the economy.  

Cain added that, at this point, he has not endorsed in the current 33rd District race. But he is absolutely not a fan of the retiring incumbent.  

“Waxman was there for a long time — far too long in my opinion,” he said. “I don’t like career politicians. And I don’t think it should be a full-time job, and it’s something that I would do on a part-time basis after many, many years of having a career.  

“I’m just glad Waxman’s out, to be honest,” he said.  

Steven T. Dennis contributed to this report. 

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