They will just vote against recall. The choice will be to keep Davis or vote for a Republican... They will vote to not recall and not vote for a replacement.
If Davis is recalled and a Republican takes his place, that Republican will be destroyed to a far greater extent than was Richard Nixon. It should not take an I.Q. larger than your shoe size to figure out the Democrats in the Legislature and the media will join to place all the blame for not fixing the state mess on the Republican Governor. LBJ got us into the quagmire of VietNam and Nixon got us out, but Nixon took the blame for VietNam. Nixon left office a hated man.
If a Republican succeeds Davis he will share the same fate as Dick Nixon. Most Republicans with a brain should know that and not many would chose that fate by allowing their name on the ballot.
The Davis strategy is to make the choice between retain Davis, or replace him with a nutty fringe Republican.
The object for Davis will be the same as in the General election. Drive the center away from voting. The normal elctorate is 10 million voters. Only 6 million of them voted for governor in 2002. The center did not vote. If Davis can sicken the center so that they think all of the Republican choices are as bad as Davis.. .the center will not vote again. That makes the contest between the Democrat and Republican base.
If Davis wins that contest, and he very likely would, he would become the legendary Democrat that the Republicans could not destroy. Davis would become a national Democratic hero.... Democrats would worhship him for the remainder of his live.
Davis could not get opposition he likes better, even if he got to chose them himself.