Looks like his support is eroding:
The Democratic split over Gov. Gray Davis’ strategy to survive a recall deepened Thursday, with top party leaders pledging to unite behind him even as prominent California Democrats — including Sen. Barbara Boxer — said the party may need a backup on the ballot if Davis loses.
State and national Democratic leaders told reporters in a conference call Thursday that the party is standing firmly behind Davis, despite calls from some congressional Democrats to draft Sen. Dianne Feinstein as an alternative candidate on the Oct. 7 ballot. Davis cannot put his own name on the list of candidates to replace him, and some Democrats want to make sure Californians have another party leader to vote for if the recall succeeds.
“At end of the day, there will be no Democrat on the ballot, other than Governor Davis,” said Art Torres, chairman of the California Democratic Party. “That is, no Democrat of any substance that can win a statewide election.”
If Gray Davis survives, it is only because of the unparalleled incompetence of the California Republican party. Remember, these are the guys who ran Simon instead of Riordan the last time.
M. Scott Eiland
*Scott salts his popcorn and waits gleefully for the California voters to pull the chain on Governor Monochrome*
Andrew Lazarus
Perhaps all is not lost.
Joshua Martin
Cole, sometimes you’re great, and sometimes you’re not. There’s a reason why Riordan didn’t get the nod – he wasn’t pro-2nd amendment, pro-life, or pro-Republican platform enough. You want to pick a Dem to beat a Dem, that’s your business, but don’t castigate the CA GOP for not falling in line behind you.
John Cole
Josh- Change the word Riordan with Lieberman and switch the party and you sound like moveon.org.
The goal in politics is to win- not to adhere to a strict ideological purity while remaining out of power for 40 years.
Andrew Lazarus
Rumor (probably spread by Davis) is that Riordan is physically and mentally aging fast.
IB Bill
Some general comments:
There is no good reason for this recall. This sets a bad precedent, and sounds like mass hysteria. A recall is for criminal activity or other extreme event to which the legislature is not responding.
Gray Davis was just elected in November; the GOP had their change and they blew it. This smacks of a “do-over”. And in elections, that’s a potentially deadly precedent.
This recall isn’t fair play; it’s demagoguery at its worse.
IB Bill
Obviously, I mean “chance” not “change”. I make that typo a lot, too.
Little Miss Attila
California is a state that does a lot of “direct democracy.” We do a fair amount of legislation-by-referendum, so this isn’t beyond the pale.
Also–the last several governors have been subject to recall attempts, so anyone running for governor here has to know the risk of one finally succeeding.
Davis is a clever politician, but an incompetent administrator. He lied to people about the degree of the deficit, and his anti-business policies are making the recession here much, much worse. This is bad news not just for California, but for the entire country–we are a big part of the nation’s economy. The problem needs to be fixed now; it can’t wait another three years.
Joshua–we’re going to end up with a “RINO” anyway, and I’ll be glad about it. Riordan did a fine job running Los Angeles, and either her or Arnold would be fine as governor. When the Republicans in San Diego, Orange County, and the central valley push for more-extreme politicians it frustrates me beyond belief–particularly since I know there are Democrats in LA and SF who would cross over and vote for someone like Riordan.
I’d rather get one of our own guys in there and cajole them into doing the right thing on gun issues and minimizing abortion, rather than letting the Democrats screw things up.
This state is in trouble, and if we’d just run someone electable, it wouldn’t be this way.