For the last several days, political pundits across the nation have sorted through the election results of California’s gubernatorial recall election. Here at the Talk About Town Political Analysis Center, we’ve done the same.

And we’ve come to one strong conclusion: The people of California aren’t from another state. They’re from another planet.

It’s not just about the overwhelming election of an action-hero governor either. Did you see the others who got tens of thousands of votes?

Larry Flynt, the publisher of Hustler magazine, received 15,454 votes. He finished seventh — seventh! — out of the field of 135 candidates.

Former child star Gary Coleman, who made his mark in the sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes,” was hot on Flynt’s tail, finishing eighth with 12,683 votes. We know your stunned reaction to this news: Whatchu talkin’ ’bout, Willis?

But it’s true.

Just imagine if “Strokes” co-stars Todd Bridges or Conrad Bain had been on the ballot. One of them might have won.

Even adult film star Mary Carey was able to storm into 10th with 10,110 votes.

It really makes you wonder. If that’s how the Top 10 looked, what were the other 125 candidates like? After intensive analysis, this much is certain: Californians have lost the right to make fun of South Carolinians and our decisions.

Folks across the country used to poke fun at us just because we kept electing the same guy until he was 100.

Well, so what?

And maybe we do have a lieutenant governor who drives like a character in “The Dukes of Hazzard.”

Big deal.

At least we’re not undoing an election that just took place a year ago so we can go to the polls and cast ballots for has-been sitcom celebs and porn queens to become the next chief executive of the state.

Think about it.

More than 10,000 people — about the same number of citizens living in the town of Lexington — voted for Mary Carey, whose key issues were making lap dances tax deductible and taxing breast implants. (Please, don’t read this as a suggestion that the fine people of Lexington would have ever unanimously supported Mary Carey.)

Can’t you hear some guy talking to his wife in line just before he steps into the voting booth? “Marge, I’ve decided how I’m going to vote. The only way California is ever going to get out of this horrible budget crisis is to tax breast implants.”

Now that’s democracy at work.

The same thought process obviously took place for those backing the Coleman campaign. His 12,000 votes — or about the same number of citizens who reside in Cayce — were an endorsement of the man who once played Arnold Jackson. (Again, we’re not saying all of Cayce would have backed Gary Coleman. It’s simply a statistical comparison.)

Two of Coleman’s key planks were decriminalizing marijuana and drilling for oil in every national park. Great, just what we need — potheads on oil rigs in the Congaree Swamp.

We’re not sure even Larry Flynt would back that.

So residents of the Golden State can go ahead and laugh at South Carolina if they want. But we’re quite certain that our governor, Mark Sanford, has never advocated tax proposals that involve lap dancing, or gotten policy inspiration from a Cheech and Chong record. (All right, maybe we haven’t read every single piece of Sanford literature, but we still feel safe saying that.)

Sure, defenders of the political process in California may point out that these candidates didn’t get that many votes. Of course, the Talk About Town Political Analysis desk has one response.

Guess who got 3.7 million votes? That’s right, a cyborg with a bad attitude. The denizens of La La Land didn’t think twice about turning over their state to a fellow who did little more than repeat the cliched catch phrases from his action flicks.

Again, we’re pretty darn positive our governor has never uttered, “Hasta la vista, baby.” If he did something lame like that, then it might be time to recall him, too.

(It’s too bad Todd Richard Lewis didn’t announce his candidacy on “The Tonight Show.” Maybe he would have stood a better chance then. Who’s Todd Richard Lewis? He’s the guy who came in 135th in the balloting with a grand total of 172 votes. Wonder what the headline in his hometown newspaper said? “Lewis trounced by Coleman, Carey.”)

At any rate, all of us can be a little more thankful for where we live. South Carolina’s State Fair leaves town today.

The circus never leaves California.

Reach White at (803) 771-8643 or ntwhite@thestate.com.