Riordan To Get Ah-nold's Team?
Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan is close to taking over actor Arnold Schwarzenegger's political campaign staff, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Despite months of encouraging speculation that he would enter politics, the muscleman is said to favor a Riordan challenge to Democratic Gov. Gray Davis.
Schwarzenegger and Riordan are good friends. Both men are moderate Republicans.
The Times said the Schwarzenegger team is largely the same group that guided former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson to a string of victories in the 1980s and 1990s.
The old Wilson staff had fashioned a strategy in which Schwarzenegger would have run against Davis as a political outsider. Riordan is likely to pursue the same strategy, the newspaper said.
Riordan and Schwarzenegger must make a final decision on a gubernatorial campaign by Aug. 9 - the filing deadline for candidates.
Schwarzenegger plans to make his decision public Wednesday on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno."
NBC didn't say what Schwarzenegger's answer would be, but an adviser to the actor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Schwarzenegger is still leaning against running.
"He has not made a final decision, but nothing has changed about his leaning against," said the adviser. The adviser said it also was possible Schwarzenegger might make a statement before the show and elaborate when he speaks with Leno.
Congressman Darrell Issa, who funded the successful recall petition drive that has placed Davis' political career in jeopardy, is the only declared Republican candidate so far.
Bill Simon, the GOP businessman who lost to Davis in November, and state Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, are also expected to run. Dozens of other potential candidates are considering getting into the race.
Meanwhile, Democratic leaders maintain that they stand united behind Davis. Earlier in the week, three congressional Democrats urged Sen. Dianne Feinstein to run as a Democratic alternative in case Davis loses.
"We are all together in supporting Gray Davis," said Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe.
Democratic Party leaders also warned Thursday that the Oct. 7 recall election could result in Florida-style problems of disenfranchising poor and minority voters, a contention dismissed by recall supporters.
McAuliffe and California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres told reporters that the consolidation of precincts in some counties could result in some voters not being able to get to polling places.
Their comments came after the California branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said earlier in the day it was preparing a lawsuit over similar issues.