Dems: Effort to Oust Davis Hard to Ignore
By BETH FOUHY
The Associated Press
Thursday, June 26, 2003; 8:01 PM
SAN FRANCISCO - The Democratic presidential candidates are finding the fast-moving effort to oust California Gov. Gray Davis a politically charged issue that's hard to ignore - and one that surprisingly could reap benefits for them in the delegate-rich state.
At first glance, the drive to recall the unpopular Democratic governor seems like a controversy to avoid. Davis is getting most of the blame for a staggering $35 billion budget deficit, and his approval ratings have plummeted to an all-time low of 25 percent.
Standing up for the Democrat would seem to be politically toxic for any White House hopeful.
"None of them wants to get pulled into it at all," said longtime California Democratic strategist Garry South, who is working for presidential candidate Joe Lieberman.
But consider the political possibilities for the White House aspirants. Opponents portray the Republican-led recall as yet another swipe at democracy, a rogue effort to reverse what the voters decided in November 2002 when they elected Davis to a second term.
Democrats liken the recall to the GOP-driven impeachment of President Clinton in 1998 and the disputed 2000 presidential election in which the Supreme Court ended the Florida recount and George Bush became president.
Political analysts argue that the Democratic candidates who speak out strongly about the unfairness of the recall, while keeping their distance from Davis, could score points with Democratic voters. Currently there are nine Democratic hopefuls.
"It's not because of Gray - it's because it's a destabilizing, expensive way to go," said Skye Gallegos, a California strategist, Western regional director for Al Gore in 2000 and political director for John Edwards' presidential campaign. "Democrats will oppose the recall because it's not a good way of practicing democracy."
The timing also could work to the advantage of the Democrat who opposes the recall, while perhaps saving Davis' job.
Recall supporters are trying to collect about 900,000 valid signatures by early September, which would put a vote on the ballot in either a special election in November or in the primary next March - the same day as the state's presidential primary. The recall campaign has submitted more than 375,000 signatures so far, the secretary of state reported Tuesday.
Democratic strategists say the recall initiative has the power to enrage and mobilize Democratic voters, and they may be casting their ballots in the presidential primary and deciding Davis' fate at the same time.
"What you have is a conservative cabal literally trying to orchestrate a coup d'etat," said Chris Lehane, an adviser to presidential candidate John Kerry. "Candidates coming here can clearly say this is something bad for democracy, bad for California and bad for the country."
Said Bill Carrick, a California-based adviser to candidate Dick Gephardt: "It's good for the governor if it's on the March ballot because we're going to get an energized Democratic turnout."
In the past few weeks, during campaign stops in California, the presidential candidates have criticized the recall, with arguments likely to grow louder if the recall seems inevitable.
"You know, I kind of went through one of these deals when the Republicans were bound and determined to, in effect, recall President Clinton. Impeach him," said Gephardt, the Missouri congressman. "I think they carried it too far and eventually got into real difficulty with the American people."
Kerry, the Massachusetts senator, called the effort "power politics" among Republicans in an interview with The Associated Press. Howard Dean, in a speech before the Bar Association of San Francisco last week, called it "a mistake" and said President Bush should bear the blame for California's budget crisis.
On Wednesday, Lieberman acknowledged that people are unhappy with Davis, but the Connecticut senator said, "if you start to create a circumstance where elected officials ... when they become unpopular, can be taken out of office, it's not the way the system should work."
Mindy Tucker, who is running Bush's re-election efforts in California, said Democrats have provided the GOP with an opportunity to challenge them as a party. Tucker said that no matter what the outcome of the recall effort, the sentiment behind it gives them a strong message to use next year.
"The Democrats have failed this state, and it's time for a change," she said. "That's a message that will help Republicans running against Davis in the recall, running for state Assembly, and it will certainly help the president's re-election."
No Republican presidential candidate has won the state since George H.W. Bush in 1988. His son, who travels to the state Friday on a fund-raising trip, is looking to change that.
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