State Of Amusement
August in California has become the political silly season, reports CBS News Correspondent Jerry Bowen.
The casting call for California's unprecedented recall election ended on Saturday night. At least 150 candidates entered the race to become governor if voters oust Gov. Gary Davis, including a pornographer, a former child television star, and a performance artist who wears all blue seeking to legalize drugs.
The Democrats have successfully whittled their own field to one major backup candidate, while the front running Republican is Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The state of chaos has inspired a lot of laughs on late night television this week. What to call Arnold if he actually wins? The governator? The ex-terminator?
David Letterman quipped, "It's official. Arnold said he would enter the race for governor - at least, that's what everybody thinks he said."
And Jay Leno deadpanned, "Welcome to day three of the California recall election campaign ... Or as we call it, 'Freaky Friday' ladies and gentlemen."
Satirist Bill Maher calls the recall ridiculous. "If Arnold Schwarzenegger can run, I think the Democrats should run Mister T. Similar qualifications, and it's easier to spell," he said.
Maher asked Davis this week, "I'm going to ask you about your credentials since you want to stay governor. How much can you bench?"
San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, a Democrat, thinks Davis has made some mistakes, but he's standing by the governor:
"Let me tell you something. You couldn't do this any other place in America except California. What is this, a joke?" says Brown. "Mr. Davis was elected in November 2002. He started to face a recall effort and drive in February 2003. He had only been sworn in and had one cup of coffee in his new job before they started talking about recalling him."
Historian Kevin Starr, who serves as the California State Librarian, says, "It initially started as something that's just another amusing California thing, but now I think it's something the whole nation should pay attention to, because I think it's beginning to express a realignment of politics, the way politics are done in the country."
Voters, meanwhile, have less than two months to decide if they should bounce the chief executive of the nation's most populous state and, if so, who should replace him.
Among their other choices: Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt; political commentator Arianna Huffington; the man who created the chain-smoking Father Guido Sarducci character; and Angelyne, a buxom actress and model who has posted billboards with her likeness around Los Angeles for years.
The secretary of state's office has said it will try to have a complete list of candidates available on Sunday. With the candidate filing deadline past, Monday looms as another important milestone, when the secretary of state will determine the order candidates' names will appear on the Oct. 7 ballot.
Typical of the crowd of candidates eager to take their shot at the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is Trek Kelly, a 33-year-old artist from Venice Beach. He arrived at the Los Angeles County registrar's office sporting a royal blue outfit, from his sneakers to his cowboy hat.
He said he would make his run for governor a performance art piece and fight hard to win "the blue vote."
"My platform is legalizing all sorts of controlled substances and using the tax money to decrease the deficit and increase education (funding)," he said.
Underlying an election that has been derided in some circles as a carnival are serious issues about the direction of the state and deep concern among Democrats that they could lose control of the governor's seat.
Democrats scored one small but potentially important victory Saturday when Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, under pressure from fellow party members, dropped out just hours before the deadline to file papers.
That left Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante as the only prominent Democrat on the ballot, raising hopes of keeping the state's top office in party hands if the unpopular governor is voted out Oct. 7.
"The Democratic Party is united around the slogan that I introduced Thursday morning — no on recall, yes on Bustamante," Bustamante said. "For the next 59 days, I will work as hard as I can on both parts of that campaign slogan."
Whether Democrats will unite behind that message is unclear.
Aides to Davis, a tenacious campaigner and fund-raiser, vowed the governor would continue to do his job and would battle to keep it.
"Part of it is just explaining to voters that this is a waste of taxpayer money, and the other part of it is explaining that, as the governor has said himself, he wants to continue the progressive agenda he's worked on as governor," said Gabriel Sanchez, spokesman for Californians Against the Costly Recall.
"Our strategy is no on the recall. That's it."
Davis' messages often carry reminders that the recall election is expected to cost taxpayers about $67 million.
But Davis has a difficult task to avoid becoming the first California governor — and only the second nationwide — to be recalled from office.
In a Time/CNN poll released Saturday, 54 percent of voters said they would vote Davis out, while 35 percent were opposed.
Of the better-known candidates, 25 percent of voters chose Schwarzenegger and 15 percent chose Bustamante, while other candidates registered in single digits. The poll of 508 voters was conducted Friday and has an error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Voter anger has been building since the state's 2000-2001 energy crisis. Since then, Californians have witnessed the decline of the state's technology sector and a record $38 billion budget deficit, which triggered a tripling of the vehicle tax, forced college fees to rise as much as 30 percent and has threatened state employees with layoffs and pay cuts.
The governor's strategy of casting the recall as a wasteful, right-wing coup no longer seems as viable with a ballot that includes fellow Democrat Bustamante and moderate Republicans Schwarzenegger and former Major League Baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth.
"It's sure shaping up like Bustamante versus Schwarzenegger," University of Southern California political scientist Sherry Bebitch Jeffe said. "The fact that it's shaping up as Schwarzenegger versus Bustamante and not Larry Flynt versus Angelyne undermines Davis' strategy of creating fear and questions about the process."