See Homer Run/References

Cultural references

 * The title of this episode is a play on the movie about Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign for California governor called "".
 * Bart's line - "I stole the sign!" is a reference to the song.
 * The boys stealing  is a reference to one of The Scream paintings being stolen from the Munch Museum in 2004.
 * Homer and Lisa go to see a movie starring Eugene Levy.
 * 2003 California recall election: the Springfield mayoral recall election is an obvious parody of the 2003 California recall election, which saw incumbent governor Gray Davis ousted and replaced by Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger.
 * The Station nightclub fire: a pyrotechnics show, which caps Homer's "Safety Salamander" presentation at school, starts the stage curtains on fire, under similar circumstances as the deadly 2003 fire before a Great White concert at The Station nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island. Everyone is able to escape the Springfield Elementary School fire, however.
 * Homer's line – "This looks like a job for a father trying to win back his daughter's love!" is a play on Superman's signature phrase, "This looks like a job for Superman!"
 * Rainier Wolfcastle's line about his being a son of a Nazi is based on research done where Arnold Shwartzenagger's father is revealed to have been an SS trooper in Nazi-era Austria. This was also shown in the episode Cape Feare.
 * The title in the News story "The Old Gray Mayor Ain't What He Used to Be", is a reference to the song "The Old Gray Mare Ain't What She used to be".
 * Mayor Quimby's line to the plane pilots while hijacking it ("Take this plane wherever girls are going wild") is a reference to the reality show "Girls Gone Wild".

Trivia

 * This is the first indication (discarding the non-canonical "Treehouse of Horror XVI") that Groundskeeper Willie was not actually killed by his cousin's attack several episodes ago in "The Girl Who Slept Too Little".
 * None of the candidates win because of less than 5% support. This is in line with "Two Bad Neighbors", where says that Springfield has the lowest voter turnout in the country.
 * It is revealed that Dolph is Jewish and the Crazy Cat Lady's real name is Eleanor Abernathy (this name had been revealed before in a prior episode as well).
 * This is the first appearance of both Dr. Loren Pryor (the school psychiatrist), and Freddy Quimby (Mayor Quimby's nephew) in many years. The voices of each character are not audibly different from their original forms (particularly Quimby).
 * The stalker-like wedding album scene with Moe reveals that he is still obsessive for Marge.
 * The contents of the Leather Buddy multi-function knife include: a wrench; an umbrella; a ; a plunger; a remote control; a whisk; a cellphone; a weathervane; a trumpet and finally a gun.
 * Homer also ran for mayor in an issue of Simpsons Comics, thought the plots are dissimilar.
 * When Homer steps on Snowball V and she meows of pain, Homer says: "Sorry, Bart!".
 * Luigi was at Homer's press conference, although he was one of the people running for mayor.

Goofs

 * When Lisa walks away from the ticket booth at the theater, the sounds of her footsteps do not correspond with the footsteps you see her take.