Posted on 08/10/2003 12:52:42 PM PDT by El Conservador
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With the candidates in place for California's extraordinary fall recall election, politicians hit the airwaves on Sunday to challenge both the embattled Democratic governor, Gray Davis, and his apparent chief rival, Hollywood superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger.
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (news, bio, voting record), California's senior senator, told NBC's "Meet the Press" she believed the unpopular incumbent could defeat the unprecedented effort to remove him from office.
"I think the governor has a good opportunity to defeat this recall," said Feinstein. "My view is that this recall should be defeated. It's bad for California."
But former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, Davis's predecessor in Sacramento, said he thought the odds were "pretty slim" Davis would win.
"I think he will be recalled and I think Arnold Schwarzenegger will be elected governor," Wilson said on CBS's "Face the Nation."
The special election on Oct. 7 in the nation's largest state dominated the Sunday talk shows, with much of the focus on "Terminator" actor Schwarzenegger, the high-profile Republican who has grabbed headlines and popular support with his candidacy. A Time/CNN poll released Saturday found Schwarzenegger would win 25 percent of the vote if the election were held now, 10 points ahead of his closest competitor, the Democratic lieutenant governor, Cruz Bustamante.
Bill Simon, a prominent Republican businessman who was defeated by Davis in 2002, said the wealthy actor had "tremendous" name identification and would focus attention on the recall but had shared little in terms of policy.
"We don't know where he stands on the issues," Simon told "Fox News Sunday."
DEFICIT, ENERGY CRUNCH
He said Californians believed they had been lied to by Davis over the size of the state's budget deficit, one of the issues that has carved into Davis's popularity in the wake of an energy crunch two years ago.
"I am quite confident that he is going to be recalled," Simon said.
Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock, another of the estimated 150-plus candidates who filed for the race by Saturday's deadline, took aim at the apparent front-runner.
"There's a great deal that I'm sure Arnold Schwarzenegger could teach me about making movies. There's a great deal I could teach him about fiscal reforms necessary to set this state right," McClintock said on ABC's "This Week."
On NBC, Feinstein bemoaned the media "explosion ... largely for one candidate" and urged that Davis, who won a landslide victory in 1998 and was re-elected just 10 months ago, be given equal coverage.
Feinstein opted out of the race, as well as the state's insurance commissioner, John Garamendi, leaving Democrats with a single high-profile candidate in Bustamante.
On ABC, Bustamante defended his decision to join the ballot, saying he acted only after it became clear the Democratic effort to derail the recall "wasn't working."
"We need to make sure we vote no on the recall, but just in case, we have to vote yes on Bustamante," he said.
San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, a Democrat, said the going will get tougher for Schwarzenegger. "He's not going to get a free ride," Brown told CBS. "He's not going to be on the 'Jay Leno (news - Y! TV)' show. He's going to have to go man-to-man with Gray Davis."
Others in the race were porn magazine publisher Larry Flynt, columnist Arianna Huffington, businessman and former Olympic organizer Peter Ueberroth and billboard pinup Angelyne.
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