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Election officials verify names { July 23 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37698-2003Jul23.html?nav=hptop_tbhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37698-2003Jul23.html?nav=hptop_tb
Election Officials Finish Verifying Names in Calif. Recall Effort
By William Booth and Rene Sanchez
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, July 23, 2003; 10:37 PM
LOS ANGELES, July 23 -- California Gov. Gray Davis (D) will face a special recall election this fall, marking only the second time in U.S. history that voters won a chance to oust a sitting governor.
The bland Democrat, already one of the most unpopular governors in the nation, previously disparaged the recall activists as losers. Today he renewed his vow to fight to the very end against what he called a "hostile takeover by the right."
At an evening news conference, California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley said his office had received 1.3 million valid signatures. Only 897,158 were needed to qualify the recall for the ballot.
It is now up to Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante (D) to set a date for the election within 60 to 80 days, possibly as early as Sept. 23.
But there was confusion late today because Bustamante said he will not issue a call for a two-part ballot that would ask first whether Davis should be recalled and second who should replace him if he is ousted. Instead, Bustamante said he would leave the question of how to choose a possible Davis successor to an independent commission and the California Supreme Court's interpretation of the state constitution.
The high court could rule that if Davis is ousted by voters, his successor would automatically be Bustamante. That would inevitably be challenged by GOP hopefuls who want to be on the ballot. Or the state supreme court could order the fall ballot to include a list of candidates for Davis's job if he is successfully recalled. That is the ballot everyone has been expecting to see.
The Commission on the Governorship, to which Bustamante would turn the issue over, has never met, and its chairman, state Senate President pro tem John Burton (D), said, "Up until three days ago, I didn't know there was such a thing."
The confusion over the ballot places greater pressure on possible candidates to replace Davis. The only announced candidate is U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), but supporters of actor Arnold Schwarzenegger say the film star is mulling a run, as is former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan.
Democratic leaders have rallied to Davis's side and vowed that no leading Democrat would run in a recall election, but some party officials have been quietly discussing the possibility of a "caretaker" candidate to put on the ballot so that if Davis is removed, a Democrat could finish out his term.
On a morning radio interview, Davis said, "I said from the very beginning if the recall got serious, I would get serious. I've had to fight for everything in my life, and trust me, I've had more political obituaries written about me than you could possibly imagine."
The vote, less than a year after Davis won a second term, is coming at low point for the governor's popularity in statewide polls, as his administration struggles with a $38 billion deficit, the worst financial crisis in state history.
The recall is already drawing national interest because both parties say it could greatly affect their presidential campaigns next year in California, which is a pivotal state because of its size. Democratic National Committee Chairman Terence McAuliffe is promising to send Davis money and manpower and likening his struggle to the party's epic fight in Florida after the 2000 presidential election, saying that Republicans are trying to "steal another election."
Davis has escaped trouble before by playing rough. Last year, amid signs that voters had little enthusiasm for reelecting him, Davis spent $10 million on attack ads that sank the most formidable Republican in the race even before the GOP primary and left him running against a political novice. Then he unleashed ads depicting that candidate as a shady businessman.
Davis, 60, has spent nearly 30 years in the top ranks of state government. He was chief of staff to Gov. Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown Jr. in the late 1970s and later was elected state controller and lieutenant governor. In 1998, Davis won the governor's race in a landslide by casting himself as a no-frills manager determined to improve public schools, protect the environment and support abortion rights and gun control. For much of his first term, Davis basked in huge budget surpluses.
Then the economy soured and the state's energy crisis struck, causing blackouts. Davis was widely criticized for reacting to it slowly and indecisively. Voters, who have never shown much personal affection for him, were furious.
When he ran for reelection last year, polls suggested Davis could lose to Riordan, a moderate Republican with a record of attracting Democratic voters. But Davis, a relentless fundraiser, amassed nearly $70 million for the race and knocked Riordan out with negative ads.
© 2003 Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive
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