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Posted on 08/22/2003 7:01:45 PM PDT by kattracks
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (Reuters) - Arnold Schwarzenegger received a hero's welcome in this beach town on Friday, thrilling hundreds of swimsuit-clad admirers and winning endorsements for his gubernatorial bid from a Republican congressman and key fund-raisers.
Wading into throngs of cheering supporters in Southern California's Huntington Beach -- known as Surf City, California -- Schwarzenegger made like a veteran politician, shaking hands, kissing babies and posing for photographs.
He ducked into two restaurants and a surf shop, saying he had been talking to the owners about "the burden they go through every day running a business in California."
"Wait until October 7, we're going to turn this mess around," the candidate said, referring to the date of the recall election.
A Los Angeles Times Poll released on Friday showed voters were nearly evenly split on whether to recall California Gov. Gray Davis, who is a Democrat.
Schwarzenegger is the front-running Republican candidate.
U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a conservative Republican who strolled down Main Street with Schwarzenegger, said he endorsed the actor because Schwarzenegger was the strongest candidate, and his beliefs most closely mirrored those of Rohrabacher.
California Republicans, however, have begun to fret that with three other well-known conservatives in the race, the party may be too fragmented to win the governor's seat and could hand the race to leading Democrat, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante.
The influential Lincoln Club of Orange County, a Republican fund-raising organization, called on Republican challengers Bill Simon, Peter Ueberroth and Tom McClintock to drop out.
"Each is a noble and principled man and would distinguish the Republican Party," said club President Tracy Price. "However, in our view, they can't win. They can only spoil our chances of electing a Republican governor and turning the state around."
PARTY POLITICS AND POLLS
Schwarzenegger refused to be drawn into party politics, saying each politician had to make his or her own decision.
"They are all people I respect. They are all Republicans. They work very hard and at one point or another they have to make a decision. I can't make it for them," he said.
But when pressed, he added: "Obviously, mathematically speaking, it's wiser to only have one candidate."
Recent polls have consistently shown Davis would likely lose his seat and be replaced by either Schwarzenegger or Bustamante.
In Friday's Los Angeles Times poll of 1,351 registered voters, 50 percent of respondents supported the recall, while 45 percent opposed it and 5 percent were undecided. Seventy-two percent said they disapproved of Davis' performance.
Meanwhile, Bustamante picked up endorsements from the state's Democratic congressional delegation and two labor unions. Democratic leaders initially tried to discourage party members from challenging Davis, but switched tactics when it appeared Davis was in trouble.
The governor's wife, Sharon Davis, told CNN on Friday that the change in tactics did not indicate a loss of support for her embattled husband.
"They are all united in one point and that is 'no' on the recall," she said. "It makes a lot of sense what the Democrats are doing, they want a Democratic governor."
At an appearance with Latino business leaders in San Diego, Davis urged voters to reject the recall, calling it "undemocratic." (Additional reporting by Gina Keating)
Aha! That explains why their numbers are different. They're polling registered voters instead of likely voters.
ARNIE INDUCED MOB
FR News Network | Aug 22, 2003 | Snerfling
Posted on 08/22/2003 2:42 PM PDT by Snerfling
With a long business trip back East coming up shortly and my hair beginning to look a little shaggy, I figured lunch would be a good time to get my hair cut today.
My barber is up a couple of blocks from the beach on upper Main street in Huntington Beach. As he cut my hair, he casually mentioned that Arnie was having lunch at the Inca Grill down the street.
I remarked that perhaps I would take a drive by as I was leaving to take a look; the other barber said that would be a bad idea, since they had heard from other customers that there was a large crowd.
I was about to blow it off but at the last moment decided to walk the couple of hundred yards just to see what was going on. As I got closer, I could see the cops had blocked off lower Main street and that the news vans/helicopters were out in force.
Hmmm, this was a bigger event than I had figured. I thought it would be a regular 'meet the folks' type of staged event with a couple of people around. Instead, it was a full-blown mob scene...
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