PING!
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Posted on 08/18/2003 5:14:25 PM PDT by Libloather
California recall election straining party unity
Associated Press
Aug. 18, 2003, 11:59AM
SAN FRANCISCO -- California's high-stakes recall election is producing fresh cracks in party unity, with the state's second-leading Democrat accusing Gov. Gray Davis of personal disloyalty and two leading Republicans bickering about which one hates taxes more.
The new disputes erupted Sunday as the candidates intensified their campaigns for the Oct. 7 election, which will decide if Davis stays in office and who among 135 candidates will replace him if he's ousted.
Meanwhile, a federal judge in Los Angeles scheduled a hearing this afternoon on an American Civil Liberties Union request for an order to delay the election until spring, when new voting machines will fully replace the state's outdated punch-card ballots.
"Democracy in California should not hang by a chad," said ACLU attorney Mark Rosenbaum, referring to the small pieces of paper that voters push out of punch-card ballots.
The Republican division arose when conservative candidate Bill Simon ran new radio ads accusing actor Arnold Schwarzenegger of being a liberal, and Schwarzenegger's spokesman fired back by comparing Simon to the Democratic gubernatorial incumbent.
Hours earlier, Democrats had their spat on national television. On NBC's "Meet the Press," Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante charged that Davis aides were trying to sabotage the lieutenant governor's efforts to serve as a Democratic fallback in case the governor is recalled.
"If some of the governor's minions would stop trying to undercut my efforts, I think we could have a very coalesced opportunity for Democrats ... and we have a possibility of having a win-win position on the ballot," said Bustamante, who has said he opposes the election but argues Democratic voters deserve a choice if the recall effort is successful.
The Davis camp denied Bustamante's charge.
"As far as I know, and I think I would know, we're not engaged in that," said Steve Smith, Davis' campaign manager. "From the governor on down, I think we've been fairly complimentary of the lieutenant governor."
Republican Simon's campaign announced it was airing the radio ads after Schwarzenegger's top economic adviser, billionaire Warren Buffett, said he believed California's Proposition 13 had lowered the state's property taxes too much.
"Gray Davis tripled our car taxes, and now Arnold Schwarzenegger's team wants to triple our property taxes," Simon said in the ad. "Which just goes to show you, don't send a liberal to do a tax-fighter's job."
Schwarzenegger spokesman Rob Stutzman accused Simon, who ran against Davis last year, of misrepresenting the actor's positions.
"Bill Simon looks like he learned a lesson from Gray Davis last year and is putting distortions on the air," Stutzman said. "He knows as well as anyone that Arnold Schwarzenegger is a staunch supporter of Prop 13 and to say anything else is disingenuous."
The latest polling suggests Davis is likely to be recalled and places Bustamante atop the field of replacement candidates. The nonpartisan Field Poll showed Bustamante had the support of 25 percent of likely voters, and Schwarzenegger 22 percent, with a margin of error of 5 percentage points. Other candidates all had single-digit support.
Ahnuld better bust a move on some of that campaigning stuff...
So9
NOWAY... really?!?
;-)
Sounds like a good prediction to me.
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That's what I heard too and he got stuck!!! Just imagine his driver finding him on the pot where his heart popped before he dropped. "I can't let them find The King on his throne" as he tried to pull and pull fat Elvis off the toilet and pull his britches up.
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