Davis: Recall An Insult To Voters

Gov. Gray Davis said in an interview broadcast Monday that the effort to recall him was an insult to those who voted last year. And Bill Simon, who lost to Davis in that election but is challenging him again, cited his vision for the future and promised to be "the candidate of ideas."

In New York, meanwhile, actor and GOP hopeful Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared at a gathering related to his effort to foster after-school programs, joking to the crowd that the large number of journalists present were "all there for you." Schwarzenegger, who has avoided detailed interviews in California since launching his bid, did not take questions after his remarks in New York.

Californians will vote Oct. 7 in the nation's first gubernatorial recall election in 82 years. The race has attracted 195 candidates, including former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth, political commentator Arianna Huffington, and Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, a Democrat who says he opposes the recall but wants to be on the ballot as an alternative in case it passes. Roughly half of the 195 names have been approved as of Monday, with the others still under review.

"I don't like this but I am trying to suppress those negative feelings and channel my energies into doing something positive for the people I work for, the people of this great state," Davis said in a television interview.

Davis said he has "gotten the message. I understand a lot of people signed a recall." But he also called it "an insult to the 8 million people who went to the polls last November and decided I should be governor." (Of nearly 8 million people voting in California's election, Davis received around 3.5 million votes, Simon got nearly 3.2 million, and the rest of the voters chose other candidates or left the gubernatorial part of the ballot blank.)

The governor also said former President Clinton had given him advice and he hoped that he and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton would campaign for him. "They're very well thought of in California," Davis said. Clinton representatives did not immediately comment on whether they might campaign.

Simon cited his vision for the state, including smaller government and better schools. He told NBC's "Today" show he was stressing ideas and was confident "that our people are once again going to rally around me." He also said he was more conservative on social issues than Schwarzenegger, a fellow Republican.

None of the GOP candidates, however, will be getting any help from the White House. Spokeswoman Claire Buchan said President Bush has no plans to appear with any Republican hopeful during a two-day swing through the state later this week. She did not rule out a behind-the-scenes meeting.

Bustamante stressed Monday he was against the recall but said as lieutenant governor, he was an obvious choice to become governor if Davis is removed. "I think I'm in the perfect position ... to take over if there's any kind of problem," he said.

With close to 200 candidates signed up to run, the ballot itself could be a real page-turner. On Monday, the secretary of state began a drawing to determine the order in which candidates' names will appear, choosing the 26 letters of the alphabet in random order.

"The big unknown is who will turn out to vote in this election," said John Pitney, government professor at Claremont McKenna College. "How many will vote on the recall question and then freeze when they see this list of over 100 names?"

For additional fairness, the listing of names on the ballot will be rotated across the state's 80 Assembly districts. The candidate at the top of the ballot in District 1 would go to the end of the ballot in District 2 so that every letter of the alphabet gets the top position somewhere in the state.

The final list certified for the ballot is due to be released Wednesday.

Davis will lose if he gets less than 50 percent. With so many challengers, the eventual winner could need only a fraction of the vote to become governor.

According to a CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll out Monday, 42 percent of registered voters said there's a good chance they would vote for Schwarzenegger. The poll of 801 registered voters was taken Aug. 7-10 and has an error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Twenty-two percent said there's a good chance they would vote for Bustamante; 64 percent said Davis should be removed, including 40 percent of Democrats.

In one of the few choreographed media events Sunday, Schwarzenegger's campaign let reporters view — but not copy — some of his past tax returns. They showed he paid more than $9 million in state and federal income tax in 2001 on $26.1 million in income, while giving $4.2 million to charity.

Much of the political talk focused on whether Schwarzenegger will address difficult issues, especially the economy. Coming after a bitter budget battle in the Legislature, the recall election has tarnished California's already battered image with investors.

One hint at Schwarzenegger's political leanings came Sunday when his campaign confirmed that he voted in 1994 for Proposition 187, the divisive ballot measure that denied social services to illegal immigrants, turning many Hispanics against the California Republican Party.

Bustamante told NBC the immigrant community would resent the "very cynical strategy" of blaming state problems on immigrants.

Candidates also include former child actor Gary Coleman, melon-smashing comedian Gallagher, smut peddler Larry Flynt and the porn star known as Mary Carey.

Huffington has temporarily given up her syndicated column and radio talk show, called "Left, Right & Center," while she runs. Huffington, 53, said she didn't want to be perceived as using either one as an election forum.