nytimes.com
July 23, 2003
Drive to Recall California Governor Qualifies for Ballot
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Democrat Gray Davis will have to fight to keep his job this fall in the nation's first gubernatorial recall election in 82 years, state officials announced Wednesday after tallying the results of a Republican-led petition drive that seemed farfetched just months ago.
Secretary of State Kevin Shelley said in a news conference that counties had reported 1.3 million valid petition signatures, well more than the 897,158 required for the recall to make it on the ballot. Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante will schedule an election, which could be held as early as Sept. 23.
Davis is a career politician who is less than one year removed from winning a second consecutive term, but his popularity has plunged in recent months amid California's $38 billion budget deficit, its energy crisis and its slumping economy.
He branded the Republican-led drive to oust him "a hostile takeover by the right" and said he will fight and win. "In a strange way, this has got my juices flowing," he told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "I'm a fighter."
The only declared major-party candidate so far is Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who bankrolled the recall drive. Other potential Republican candidates include businessman Bill Simon, who lost to Davis in November, and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The state's Democratic officeholders have closed ranks behind Davis and say they will not run. |
