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California Chooses: Schwarzenegger or Mr Technocrat
By Adam Tanner and Gina Keating LOS ANGELES/SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - California's recall election looked too close to call hours from the start of polling on Tuesday in a race for governor in which Republican muscleman-turned-Hollywood-film-star Arnold Schwarzenegger sought to unseat Democrat Gray Davis.
Polls open at 7 a.m. PDT for Californians to decide whether to oust Davis, famous for his lack of charisma and dedication to fund-raising, then pick from an assortment of 135 replacement candidates, including the actor.
What began as a Republican-led protest vote over Davis' handling of the state's economy and recent energy crisis has become a referendum on Schwarzenegger, especially his alleged groping and sexual harassment of women.
Davis' wife Sharon campaigned for her husband at the last minute, once again bringing up claims of impropriety against Schwarzenegger who in turn has accused the Davis campaign of dirty tricks in the crucial final days before the recall.
Appearing on NBC's "Today" show, Mrs. Davis said as a former flight attendant she was harassed and understood why women had not come forward before with complaints against Schwarzenegger, a "powerful" man in the film industry.
Mrs. Davis said she expected voters would consider these allegations and hoped her husband would get another chance as governor. "What we really would hope is the opportunity to serve out Gray's term," she said.
Speaking from Schwarzenegger's camp, former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan praised the actor for not being "blindsided" by the allegations and said he was the right man to sort out California's financial woes.
"This state is literally bankrupt ... People are desperate to have new leadership in Sacramento," he said, charging Davis had sold out the state to special interest groups.
TOO CLOSE TO CALL
Davis' campaign said its new tracking survey of 1,200 likely voters found a 50 percent to 48 percent split between those favoring a "yes" vote on the recall and those planning to vote "no."
That survey was at odds with the latest independent statewide poll, issued on Sunday by Knight Ridder newspapers and an NBC affiliate, which found a 54 to 41 percent spread between recall supporters and opponents.
But both those polls included sampling from before and after allegations surfaced that Schwarzenegger groped or sexually harassed some 15 women over the years and once expressed admiration for Hitler, a claim he denies strongly.
Schwarzenegger aide Todd Harris said his candidate remained ahead in his campaign's internal tracking polls but declined to release the numbers or discuss whether recent polling reflected a decline in support.
Late on Monday in Huntington Beach, south of Los Angeles, the Hollywood icon mingled with surfers and slackers, some sporting "Surfers for Arnold" placards.
At the end of the rally, Schwarzenegger was given a surfboard bearing his image and the words "Arnold Schwarzenegger Total Recall," to which one crowd member shouted "Wow, that's cool!"
Schwarzenegger has expressed outrage and puzzlement at the late barrage of sexual misconduct charges, calling them part of an orchestrated "dirty tricks" campaign.
His wife, newscaster and Kennedy cousin Maria Shriver, has stood firmly behind him, telling supporters Monday she had told her children that "no matter what happens in this race, your father has done an extraordinary thing."
Schwarzenegger has promised to address all the charges in detail after the election. His critics say that is too late. "We can't wait until after the election for the truth," the California National Organization for Women (news - web sites) said in a statement. "Stop crying dirty politics and tell us the truth." Davis, after getting a rousing welcome from more than 1,000 firefighters who crowded Union Square in San Francisco, ended his day in downtown Los Angeles, where union members mixed with bosses in a noisy get-out-the-vote rally. As James Brown's "Ain't Gonna Give It Up" blared over the speakers, a smiling Davis, who seemed to find his rhythm in the last days of his campaign, began clapping and swaying in time to the music. "This race is razor close -- right there on the edge," he told the crowd of about 400. "We need to do everything we can in the next 24 to 36 hours ... to reaffirm the democratic values we hold so dear. Let's get to it!" |
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