Calif. Recall Support Waning, Poll Says
Sat Aug 23, 8:01 AM ET
By MICHELLE MORGANTE, Associated Press Writer
SAN DIEGO - California voters are losing their thirst for recalling Gov. Gray Davis (news - web sites), according to a new poll released amid signs that both Democrats and Republicans are moving to throw support behind their respective front runners.
The Los Angeles Times poll Friday showed half of likely voters support throwing Davis out of office, while 45 percent are opposed. Just 4 percent are undecided. The poll of 801 likely voters had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Earlier surveys suggested the recall was supported by more than half of voters.
"In 1998, I was called 'roadkill,' 'given up for dead' with about two months to go and we won by 20 points," Davis reminded reporters in San Diego. "So do not be surprised if you see some polls in the near future that are more favorable than the ones you have seen in the past. It's the nature of this business. It's a very volatile time."
Democrats continued to oppose the effort to unseat Davis but began to rally behind Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante as a hedge against losing the governor's office to a Republican. Bustamante is the lone high-profile Democrat on the 135-candidate ballot.
And some Republicans stepped up pressure on the GOP candidates that trail actor Arnold Schwarzenegger in the polls. GOP stalwarts fear the crowded field could split the party's vote and spoil Schwarzenegger's odds in the Oct. 7 special election.
State Senate Minority Leader Jim Brulte said party leaders will need to get behind the top candidate and ask one or more of the other four major Republican candidates to drop out of the race.
"Does it make any sense to have a Democrat finish first and Republicans to finish second, third and fourth?" he said. "At some point some of the leaders of the party are going to have to go to the candidates who are going to be nothing but a spoiler. No one should prejudge who those candidates should be at this point."
Other high-profile Republicans on the ballot include former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth, businessman Bill Simon and state Sen. Tom McClintock. The Republican who funded the recall petition drive, U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (news, bio, voting record), already dropped out.
While the other candidates acknowledged that narrowing the field would be a good thing, there was no sign they would step aside. Simon said he wouldn't leave and McClintock said he would accept Schwarzenegger's endorsement.
"If the most qualified candidate must defer every time a celebrity or a millionaire casts a longing eye on public office, well then we've lost something very important in our democracy, and it's called merit," McClintock told CNN.
Meanwhile, the bodybuilder-turned-actor and Ueberroth, both millionaires, have poured money from their own fortunes into their campaigns and were raising money from wealthy friends and family members.
During a visit to Huntington Beach, Schwarzenegger said he wasn't trying to muscle anyone out of the race.
"Everyone has to make their own decision," he said. "I can't make it for them. Obviously, mathematically speaking, it's wiser to only have one candidate."
The Lincoln Club of Orange County, which includes some of the state's most prolific Republican donors, endorsed Schwarzenegger on Friday and called on the other Republican candidates to abandon the race.
Any of the candidates who drop out will remain on the two-part ballot. The first part asks if Davis should be removed. The second part offers 135 replacement choices if the recall succeeds.
Also Friday, political columnist Arianna Huffington announced the resignation of her campaign manager, Dean Barkley, who in 1998 chaired Jesse Ventura's successful campaign for governor of Minnesota.
Barkley "felt that his work as a lobbyist in Minnesota was an unnecessary distraction to the campaign," Huffington wrote on her campaign Web site Friday. Barkley's lobbying clients include Lorillard Tobacco Co.
While Bustamante has picked up endorsements from the state's 33 Democratic members of the House of Representatives and the California Teachers Association, Davis would not commit to signing on to the "no on recall, yes on Bustamante" slogan.
"As governor, I am the subject of the recall so my interests are obviously in question No. 1," Davis said.
Davis and Bustamante rarely speak, but the governor has suggested the two could campaign together. Bustamante would not rule out a joint campaign between the two later. |
