While much of the spat was conducted behind closed doors, accusations from each that the other was dragging down the party threatened to undermine party unity in the drive to keep control of the governor's office. Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe arrived on the scene Tuesday, pleading for the party to stay together.
"I want every single Democrat in the state, when you go to vote next week, you go vote no on recall. I don't want to hear one single Democrat voting yes on recall," McAuliffe said.
But polls suggested a sizable number of Democrats were considering just that, prompting the Davis team to suggest privately that Bustamante withdraw from the race.
Democratic sources told Fox News that Davis officials told top Democratic donors on Tuesday that Bustamante's dropping out of the race would lift Davis' numbers by 10 points. Those same sources said most Democratic donors ignored the pitch, primarily because they saw Bustamante as the only way to draw Latino voters to the polls and increase overall Democratic turnout.
But others have said that Democratic officials have grown frustrated with Bustamante's campaign -- which has been rocked by campaign finance violations -- and have turned more toward a "save Davis" strategy.
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Ross said Bustamante "had hoped" Davis would endorse Bustamante on the replacement ballot and was disppointed he won't. He added that Davis was instead indirectly blocking Bustamante's efforts to raise campaign contributions and that he saw a concerted strategy by the Davis team to discredit the Bustamante campaign and portray it as a non-factor.
"I know what they're saying and all is fair in love and war, but that doesn't change the reality," Ross said. "We're still in this race."
