In May 2000, Gary Coleman announced an unlikely plan to run for the US Senate -- against incumbent California Senator Diane Feinstein. His platform? HECK: Homelessness, Education, Crime, and Killers.

Among his other major peeves? Scooters. "When I see a grown man with a tie on a scooter," he declared, "I think loser." Coleman hit the streets to collect signatures on petitions in New York and Los Angeles calling for a referendum preventing scooters on city sidewalks. As salon.com's Amy Reiter remarked, "So much for all that 'diff'rent strokes to move the world' stuff."

[In 2003, Coleman was campaigning once again, this time in the California gubernatorial election. "Arnold Schwarzenneger's wife, Maria Shriver, announced that after next week's election she will return to work at NBC," Conan O'Brien announced in September 2003. "Meanwhile, Gary Coleman announced that after next week's election he'll return to work at KFC." (Coleman -- having squandered the $18 million which he earned between 1978 and 1986 -- was working as a security guard.)]