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Posted on 08/26/2003 9:28:17 PM PDT by nickcarraway
CRUZ CONTROL
Apparently Gov. Gray Davis knew he couldn't trust his so called "trusty sidekick", Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante. According to a Davis aide in Sacramento, Davis's campaign staff has been keeping an opposition file on the state's No. 2 Democrat, who is now challenging Davis in the recall election.
Bustamante, a long-time state political hack in the mold of Davis himself, has made a point of not criticizing his leader out of concern that Davis will go "nuclear," according to the staffer.
"Cruz has to be careful," says the staffer. "Davis has enough pride that if Cruz were to step out of line and go negative against the boss, he [Davis] could start leaking."
Cruz may also not be stepping out on Davis, because of the money it would cost him. Already, Bustamante has been reaching out to many of Davis's backers in organized labor and other special interests. For example, Bustamante recently accepted a $300,000 donation from the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, a San Diego-based Indian tribe, which runs a casino. Bustamante is expecting similar checks from several state employee unions and government associations.
Bustamante, though, may be cruzin' for a bruisin' as he gets bolder in his attacks on Davis. Over the past few days, on the advice of several Washington, D.C.-based advisers, such as former Clinton aide Ann Lewis, Bustamante has been calling Davis "arrogant" and "aloof" while portraying himself as plugged in and engaged.
"Davis isn't going to sit back and take it," says the governor's staffer. "He's spoken to former President Clinton about the McAuliffe people out here who claim they are working for the state party, but they are clearly working for Cruz. It's dirty pool."
STILL RADIOACTIVE
No one should be surprised that Senator Charles Grassley pulled aides out of the conference meetings with Rep. Bill Thomas and other House members discussing Medicare reform.
Grassley and Thomas have been warring ever since Thomas stalked out of his own office, leaving Grassley sitting there wondering where the congressman had gone.
It was one more in a series of odd moves by Thomas leading up to his notorious shouting match with Democratic House members earlier this summer.
Like, so what? There's enough out there now that would have a Republican arrested. No one in the mainstream cares.
California's influential labour unions yesterday agreed to support a strategy designed to keep the state governor's job in Democratic hands - even if Gray Davis is voted out in October.
The unanimous vote by the regional AFL-CIO federation, featuring 1,300 union branches and 2m members, divides the umbrella group's resources between an effort to persuade voters to say "no" to the recall, combined with another to have them name Cruz Bustamante, the governor's deputy, as the man to replace him "just in case".
The union vote completed the reversal of its original policy, supported by Mr Davis and national party leaders, which focused solely on rejection of the recall with no provision for the selection of a fall-back candidate.
A weekend poll showed Mr Bustamante leading the field, and suggested that voters narrowly favoured removing the governor. That poll conflicted with two previous surveys that showed far stronger support for the recall and marked Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger as front-runner in the race.
Christopher Parkes, Los Angeles
Oh, yes there is...HE'S A CONSERVATIVE in a predominately liberal State. What part of that don't you understand. HE CAN NEVER, EVER WIN. You can pretend he can, but be prepared to wake up on October 8th and say, buenos dias, Governor Bustamante. McClintock cannot and will not win.
This was discussed on Fox this afternoon. One of the commenters said this is no different than Arnolds father being a Nazi. Yes there is.....Cruz was and maybe still is a member, whereas Arnold's father was the member, NOT Arnold.
At the end of the interview the host said they tried to reach Bust's office and only talked to an aide.
Karen
P.S. Why is it that Drudge, Free Republic, ABCNBCCBSFOXCNN, for 3 days, couldn't stop telling us about the new LA Times poll with Busty way ahead, but I haven't seen the new poll with Arnold at 45 plastered across Drudge's headlines, or heard much here, or for that matter on any tv station except for Fox today. Judy Woodruff was gleeful reporting on the LA Times poll, and not a word today about the new poll.
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