With just a week to go before the Total Recall election, a buoyant Ah-nold talked about the politically wounded Davis as if he were some bloodied bad guy in a "Conan" flick. "This is now hand-to-hand combat," said Schwarzenegger, who barnstormed across the state. "We are in the trenches. This is war." The Running Man was walking tall after a new poll showed a whopping 63% of probable voters planning to vote yes to recall Davis from office, with just 35% voting no - a much bigger margin than other recent polls. The CNN/USA Today/Gallup survey showed 40% of likely voters would pick Schwarzenegger to replace Davis in the Oct. 7 election, compared to 25% for Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and 18% for Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock. GOP insiders touted the new survey as a sure sign that California is ready to say "hasta la vista" to Davis - and that Republicans are closing ranks around the Hollywood superstar. "This is evolving into an astonishing mandate," said Shawn Steel, immediate past chairman of the state GOP and a co-founder of the recall movement. The poll shows Schwarzenegger finally taking control of the circus-like race that has survived several legal challenges and still has more than 100 candidates on the ballot - including child actor Gary Coleman, two porn stars and a couple of dozen Republicans. His harshest critic, syndicated columnist Arianna Huffington is now a nonfactor with 2% support, behind Green Party candidate Peter Camejo, who came in fourth with 5%. Supporters say Schwarzenegger has pumped up his support among women by showing his sensitive side in an appearance with his wife, Maria Shriver, on Oprah Winfrey's television show. He also won points by holding his own in last week's debate with other key candidates to replace Davis. Survey attacked The poll showed Schwarzenegger with much stronger support than an earlier L.A. Times poll, which showed voters narrowly approving the recall by margin of 50% to 47% and leaning toward Bustamante as a replacement candidate. Davis spokesman Gabriel Sanchez played down the latest survey, which he called way out of line with reality. "There are a lot of polls out there," Sanchez said. "We're not taking a lot of stock in this one." Even though they are not directly facing one another on the ballot, Davis challenged Schwarzenegger to a one-on-one debate and accepted a debate offer from CNN's Larry King. But Schwarzenegger turned down the debate challenge, although he has also tried to portray the recall fight as a two-man contest. Davis responded by unveiling a television commercial that accuses Schwarzenegger of ducking tough questions and refusing to debate. The best news for Schwarzenegger in the new poll is that it shows the former bodybuilder would win the statehouse even if McClintock stays in the race and splits the Republican vote. A top GOP source said the state party will endorse Schwarzenegger today, the latest in a string of politically damaging blows to the conservative McClintock.
But the source said no one expects McClintock, who says Schwarzenegger is too liberal, to step aside, no matter how bad the numbers get. "It would look like a complete surrender of everything he's stood for," said the source. The CNN poll of 787 registered voters has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points. It was conducted over three days, from Thursday through Saturday. |
