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Gubernatorial debate without davis { August 15 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60207-2003Aug14.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60207-2003Aug14.html
http://www.msnbc.com/news/952759.asp?0cl=c3
TV Debate in Calif. Recall Will Be for the Chosen Few
By William Booth
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 15, 2003; Page A06
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 14 -- The top-polling candidates in the California recall election will be invited to a single debate hosted by the state's broadcasters next month, giving voters here perhaps their only chance to see the field vying to replace Gov. Gray Davis (D) mix it up together on live television.
Alas, it will be no free-for-all among the 135 candidates who have won a place on the unprecedented ballot. To be invited to the Sept. 17 face-off, the candidates must demonstrate at least 10 percent support in any of three major polls to be taken before the 90-minute moderated round table discussion at the California State University in Sacramento.
The debate will most likely have six or so candidates -- but no Davis. He will not be invited; instead he will be offered a chance to tape a message to be aired separately.
Several of the more prominent contenders, such as action star Arnold Schwarzenegger, spent the day out of sight, huddling with staff and advisers, preparing their first television ads (which could start as early as next week) and raising money.
HUFFINGTON UNDER FIRE
One of the few who did venture out, columnist and now gubernatorial candidate Arianna Huffington stood with the Beverly Hills Hotel as a backdrop and denounced Schwarzenegger as a crony of rapacious energy wheeler-dealers who ripped off the state during its 2001 power crisis.
But as Huffington spoke, a silver BMW slowed to a crawl on Sunset Boulevard. Its driver rolled down the windows and screamed: "Pay your taxes!"
The heckler was referring to a Los Angles Times story published today that said Huffington, who lives in a Brentwood mansion worth $7 million and who castigates corporate titans as greedy pigs at a trough, had paid virtually no state or federal income taxes in 2001 and 2002.
Huffington defended her tax payments, denying they were derived from "loopholes," but "as a working woman and writer," this was a simple case of expenses and deductions outstripping income, she said. Huffington denied that she was a wealthy hypocrite impersonating "the people's candidate" -- though she was forced to explain why most of her charitable giving was to her children's expensive private schools in West L.A.
It was clear the media liked the tax story better than Huffington's accusations that Schwarzenegger was up to no good when he and other GOP heavyweights met with Kenneth L. Lay, then-CEO of Enron, in May 2001 during the California energy crisis.
John Feliz, a spokesman for gubernatorial candidate and Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock, said, "Arianna is a gadfly. She is the type of person who thinks the rules apply to everybody but Arianna. Why would anyone be surprised?"
And so it went on Day 23 since the California recall was certified.
DAVIS OUT AND ABOUT
Davis continued to make his rounds, highlighting his accomplishments and shoring up the left wing of the Democratic Party. Before an audience of mostly blacks and Latinos at California State University in Dominguez Hills, Davis railed against Proposition 54, which will appear along with the recall on the Oct. 7 ballot and seeks to ban the state from gathering any information about race or ethnicity on forms and applications.
On the recall, Davis downplayed reports that some of his base in organized labor is preparing to abandon him, saying instead, "O ye of little faith."
Republican candidate and businessman Bill Simon, who was in Palm Springs today drumming up support among senior citizens, said he was ready to debate.
"He's definitely looking forward to debating Arnold Schwarzenegger face-to-face," said Simon spokesman K.B. Forbes. "We see this as an ABC race," meaning Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill Simon and Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, the only prominent Democrat in the running.
Asked about a possible debate, Schwarzenegger spokesman Sean Walsh said, "I expect we will." Earlier, they decided to keep the film star offstage, because they didn't want to compete with President Bush during his two-day California swing.
At the Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar, Bush was joined by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif), the car-alarm mogul who put up $1.7 million of his own money to gather the 1.3 million signatures that put the recall on the ballot. Today, Issa denied charges that the White House and Bush top strategist Karl Rove were acting behind the scenes to encourage the recall effort, and said he thought it wise for Bush to remain above the fray. "This was California taking care of a California problem," Issa said.
But Schwarzenegger did come under fire from conservative Republicans for the film star's selection of billionaire investor and Democrat Warren Buffett as his unpaid economic adviser.
"The worst thing Arnold can do is act like a politician. And bringing a far-left billionaire in as an economic adviser is the kind of move a politician would do," said Scott Jordan, chair of the California Republican Liberty Caucus, which announced its support for McClintock today.
The campaign may assuage some of these critics with its announcement today that former Reagan-era secretary of state George P. Shultz will join Buffett as co-chairman of Schwarzenegger's "Economy Recovery Council," which will advise the candidate, and if he wins, make recommendations for state policy.
CRAFTING A DEBATE
California Broadcasters Association President Stan Statham said the debate "will most likely provide California voters the only chance to see and hear from candidates in a live, unfiltered format."
If there are fewer than six candidates gathering 10 percent support in the opinion polls, the debate hosts will poll voters to fill the table -- and so it is still possible child actor Gary Coleman or porn czar Larry Flynt could get a shot.
There is hope for the also-rans, however. Talk show host Jay Leno invited all 135 candidates to appear in the audience of "The Tonight Show" next month, the same setting where action star Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy last week.
California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley officially certified 135 candidates for the recall ballot on Oct. 7, and immediately began worrying about how to pull off an election that will see voters scroll through hundreds of names, which will appear not in alphabetical order but based on a random drawing of letters of the alphabet.
Some election officials have suggested it could take weeks to tally the vote, which could cost California, still reeling under a $10 billion budget shortfall, as much as $70 million to stage.
The 135 candidates certified for the ballot were whittled from a list of 247 hopefuls who submitted papers to run -- 112 were tossed out for failure to file properly.
The official field now includes 50 Democrats, 42 Republicans and 32 independents, plus representatives from the Green, Libertarian, Natural Law, and Peace and Freedom parties.
Staff writers Rene Sanchez and Amy Goldstein and special correspondent Kimberly Edds contributed to this report.
© 2003 The Washington Post Company
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