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Posted on 08/11/2003 5:38:05 AM PDT by TheDon
By TOM CHORNEAU, Associated Press Writer
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Gov. Gray Davis (news - web sites) called the effort to recall him an insult to those who voted for him last year, and Bill Simon, one of the Republicans challenging him, cited his vision for the future Monday and promised to be "the candidate of ideas."
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"I don't like this but I am trying to suppress those negative feelings and channel my energies into doing something positive for the people I work for, the people of this great state," Davis said in an interview broadcast Monday on NBC's "Today" show.
Californians will vote Oct. 7 in the nation's first gubernatorial recall election in 82 years. The race has attracted as many as 193 candidates, including actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth, political commentator Arianna Huffington, and Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, a Democrat who says he opposes the recall but wants to be on the ballot as an alternative in case it passes.
Simon, the businessman who lost to Davis in the regular election last year, cited his vision for the state, including smaller government and better schools. He told NBC he was stressing ideas and was confident "that our people are once again going to rally around me." He also said he was more conservative on social issues than Schwarzenegger, a fellow Republican.
Davis said he has "gotten the message. I understand a lot of people signed a recall." But he also called it "an insult to the 8 million people who went to the polls last November and decided I should be governor."
Appearing on NBC with her husband, Sharon Davis said the governor is "angry because this recall is creating such havoc in the state of California."
Bustamante stressed Monday he was against the recall but said as lieutenant governor, he was an obvious choice to become governor if Davis is removed. "I think I'm in the perfect position ... to take over if there's any kind of problem," he told NBC.
With close to 200 candidates signed up to run, the ballot itself could be a real page-turner. On Monday, the secretary of state was scheduled to hold a random drawing to determine the order in which candidates' names will appear.
A lottery-style drawing of canisters will determine an initial random alphabetical order. If "U" is drawn first then Ueberroth may be listed near the top in District 1. If "C" is drawn second, then all the candidates whose name begins with "C" rank high. And so on through the alphabet.
"The big unknown is who will turn out to vote in this election," said John Pitney, government professor at Claremont McKenna College. "How many will vote on the recall question and then freeze when they see this list of over 100 names?"
For additional fairness, the listing of names on the ballot will be rotated across the state's 80 Assembly districts. The candidate at the top of the ballot in District 1 would go to the end of the ballot in District 2 so that every letter of the alphabet gets the top position somewhere in the state.
The final list of names certified for the ballot is due to be released Wednesday.
Davis will lose if he gets less than 50 percent. With so many challengers on the ballot, the eventual winner could need only a fraction of the vote to become governor.
According to a CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll out Monday, 42 percent of registered voters said there's a good chance they would vote for Schwarzenegger. The poll of 801 registered voters was taken Aug. 7-10 and has an error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Twenty-two percent said there's a good chance they would vote for Bustamante; 64 percent said Davis should be removed from office, including 40 percent of Democrats.
There was little campaigning Sunday. In one of the few choreographed media events, Schwarzenegger's campaign let reporters view — but not copy — some of his past tax returns. They showed he paid more than $9 million in state and federal income tax in 2001 on $26.1 million in income, while giving $4.2 million to charity.
Much of the political talk Sunday focused on whether Schwarzenegger will address difficult issues, especially the economy. Coming after a bitter budget battle in the Legislature, the recall election has tarnished the state's already battered image with investors.
Simon told "Fox News Sunday" that if elected he would fight the state's huge deficit through government cutbacks and a reform of the workers' compensation system.
He called Schwarzenegger's entry in the race a good thing, "because it calls attention to the recall." But, he added, "this is not time for soundbites, Hollywood scripts or short prescriptions."
One hint at Schwarzenegger's political leanings came Sunday when his campaign confirmed that he voted in 1994 for Proposition 187, the divisive ballot measure that denied social services to illegal immigrants, turning many Hispanics against the California Republican Party.
Bustamante told NBC the immigrant community would resent the "very cynical strategy" of blaming state problems on immigrants.
Candidates also include former child actor Gary Coleman, melon-smashing comedian Gallagher, smut peddler Larry Flynt and the porn star known as Mary Carey.
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On the Net:
FU, buddy, and the horse you rode in on!!!
Davis and his socialist annointed ruling class need a little lesson in Democracy 101.
Mary Carey is an obscene gesture.
I don't know if it's just me, but having the wife come out with political remarks just makes me imagine Gray Davis wearing a frilly apron.
I can see if she said, "I love my husband and hope everyone will support him." But this is the second time I've heard of her go blah-blah-blah in a Hillary-type fashion.
Does anyone out there think her open mouth helps his cause?
Was there EVER a democRAT that liked ANY law? He doesn't like THIS law because he/they can't manipulate it for THEIR gain.....yet.
New York politicians don't have to worry about recalls, or annoying ballot initiatives, messing up their mafia style extortion of taxpayers.
Recalls and ballot intiatives are not allowed in New York.
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