Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Ron Faucheux
Aired August 10, 2003 - 07:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: As part of the filing process in California, prospective candidates were required to turn over financial statements. Arnold Schwarzenegger's economic holdings took up 63 pages. Even muscle there.
Included in his portfolio, his stock in Pepsi, Pfizer, Starbucks, Target and Wal-Mart, valued anywhere between $100,000 and $1 million. He also owns Oak Productions and Pumping Iron America.
He has $1 million invested in Screen Partners. And YES, an interest in the network. His real estate holdings include a mall in Ohio, a shopping complex in Santa Monica. That includes his restaurant, Schatzy's. On top of it, he owns a 747, which he can lease out at times.
All the cash and star power will come in handy for Schwarzenegger on the campaign trail, but will it add up to a win for the movie star turned politician on election day?
Let's talk about that with Ron Faucheux. He is the editor and chief of "Campaigns and Election" magazine.
Ron, thanks a lot for joining us here today.
RON FAUCHEUX, CAMPAIGNS & ELECTION MAG.: Thank you.
CALLEBS: California's got a whole host of troubles, $38 billion in debt, college tuition going up by 30 percent, triple the amount people have to pay for vehicle tax. Does Arnold Schwarzenegger know what he's getting into, trying to be governor of California?
FAUCHEUX: Well, I certainly hope so. I think anybody who runs for the governorship of California at this stage of the game is going to have quite a big job to deal with. And they're going to have quite a deep hole to dig out of.
CALLEBS: He's got great name recognition. People love T-3. Is that going to be enough?
FAUCHEUX: Well, it's certainly enough to get him into the race. And it's certainly enough to make him a serious candidate from day one. I suspect if the election were held today, number one, Gray Davis would probably lose the recall in that Schwarzenegger would probably run first among the candidates who are on the ballot.
But I think the big competition will come from the Democratic Lieutenant Governor, Cruz Bustamante, because Democrats who vote not to recall Gray Davis on the recall issue also still have an option to vote for a replacement candidates. So they'll be a lot of Democrats voting there. So it's really a matter of whether the Republicans and the Democrats can unite around one candidate.
CALLEBS: I want to dissect that in just a minute. But first, let's talk about Gray Davis. Everybody's acting like he's already been recalled. I mean, there's 60 days. A lot can happen.
FAUCHEUX: Well, he's in terrible political shape right now. And usually when somebody is in this kind of shape, they lose. The big problem he has is that he's not running on the ballot with everybody else. So he doesn't just need one more vote than the next guy.
In his case, he has to get a majority of the votes against recall. And based on his numbers now, that's going to be difficult to do. Not impossible, but it's going to be difficult to do.
I wouldn't say he's completely dead in the water this point, but he's got a tough go. And now that there is a Democratic candidate on the replacement ballot of some major note, it makes it more complicated for Gray Davis to pull this off.
CALLEBS: Do you think he has bungled the state as bad as people have portrayed it?
FAUCHEUX: Well, I'm not really someone to judge that. I think looking at it as a political observer, we see that governors around the country are in political trouble.
In the last election in 2002, both Democratic and Republican incumbent administrations were in trouble politically, because it seems that voters have focused their discontent and their anger about the economy, about taxes, about spending, about the inability of government to perform more at the state level than at the federal level.
So governors are taking hits all over the country. And in the case of California, their problems are magnified...
CALLEBS: Right, right.
FAUCHEUX: ...And Gray Davis' political position is worse than many of the governors because of his personal unpopularity.
CALLEBS: Let's talk about Cruz Bustamante for just a minute. The Democratic leadership in the state really rode him hard, tried to get him not to run. They were successful with the insurance commissioner of the state.
FAUCHEUX: Right.
CALLEBS: Why not Bustamante? And is this going to hurt Davis in the long run?
FAUCHEUX: Well, I think it potentially does hurt Davis because, you know, it does give Democrats an opportunity to go into the voting booth and to vote against the recall, but then to vote for a Democratic replacement candidate.
It also gives Democrats an opportunity, who aren't particularly thrilled with Davis, who think that the Democratic party would be well served for him to leave to vote for the recall...
CALLEBS: Right.
FAUCHEUX: ...and then to vote for a Democratic replacement candidate.
CALLEBS: Quickly, are you concerned about this spiraling, out of control and just becoming a joke? And do the Republicans have a very good chance at taking the gubernatorial leadership there?
FAUCHEUX: Well, anybody who watches elections would be concerned about it. For some reason, this election has attracted all of these candidates and this incredible blend of candidates.
It's really interesting to note that, you know, there was just an election a year ago. And these people weren't running, except for a couple of them like...
CALLEBS: Bill Simon, right.
FAUCHEUX: ...for instance. So for some reason, the unusual nature of this election, the recall nature of it has attracted all these candidates, which usually isn't the case.
So I am concerned about how that works as a process. You know, elections can be fun. They can be interesting. They should attract public participation. But we certainly don't want to trivialize...
CALLEBS: Sure.
FAUCHEUX: ...the serious nature of what it takes to govern a state like California.
CALLEBS: Unusual nature, I like that. That's about as diplomatic as you can put it.
Ron Faucheux, editor and chief of "Campaigns and Election" magazine. Thanks a lot for joining us on this Sunday morning.
FAUCHEUX: Thank you.
CALLEBS: Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired August 10, 2003 - 07:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: As part of the filing process in California, prospective candidates were required to turn over financial statements. Arnold Schwarzenegger's economic holdings took up 63 pages. Even muscle there.
Included in his portfolio, his stock in Pepsi, Pfizer, Starbucks, Target and Wal-Mart, valued anywhere between $100,000 and $1 million. He also owns Oak Productions and Pumping Iron America.
He has $1 million invested in Screen Partners. And YES, an interest in the network. His real estate holdings include a mall in Ohio, a shopping complex in Santa Monica. That includes his restaurant, Schatzy's. On top of it, he owns a 747, which he can lease out at times.
All the cash and star power will come in handy for Schwarzenegger on the campaign trail, but will it add up to a win for the movie star turned politician on election day?
Let's talk about that with Ron Faucheux. He is the editor and chief of "Campaigns and Election" magazine.
Ron, thanks a lot for joining us here today.
RON FAUCHEUX, CAMPAIGNS & ELECTION MAG.: Thank you.
CALLEBS: California's got a whole host of troubles, $38 billion in debt, college tuition going up by 30 percent, triple the amount people have to pay for vehicle tax. Does Arnold Schwarzenegger know what he's getting into, trying to be governor of California?
FAUCHEUX: Well, I certainly hope so. I think anybody who runs for the governorship of California at this stage of the game is going to have quite a big job to deal with. And they're going to have quite a deep hole to dig out of.
CALLEBS: He's got great name recognition. People love T-3. Is that going to be enough?
FAUCHEUX: Well, it's certainly enough to get him into the race. And it's certainly enough to make him a serious candidate from day one. I suspect if the election were held today, number one, Gray Davis would probably lose the recall in that Schwarzenegger would probably run first among the candidates who are on the ballot.
But I think the big competition will come from the Democratic Lieutenant Governor, Cruz Bustamante, because Democrats who vote not to recall Gray Davis on the recall issue also still have an option to vote for a replacement candidates. So they'll be a lot of Democrats voting there. So it's really a matter of whether the Republicans and the Democrats can unite around one candidate.
CALLEBS: I want to dissect that in just a minute. But first, let's talk about Gray Davis. Everybody's acting like he's already been recalled. I mean, there's 60 days. A lot can happen.
FAUCHEUX: Well, he's in terrible political shape right now. And usually when somebody is in this kind of shape, they lose. The big problem he has is that he's not running on the ballot with everybody else. So he doesn't just need one more vote than the next guy.
In his case, he has to get a majority of the votes against recall. And based on his numbers now, that's going to be difficult to do. Not impossible, but it's going to be difficult to do.
I wouldn't say he's completely dead in the water this point, but he's got a tough go. And now that there is a Democratic candidate on the replacement ballot of some major note, it makes it more complicated for Gray Davis to pull this off.
CALLEBS: Do you think he has bungled the state as bad as people have portrayed it?
FAUCHEUX: Well, I'm not really someone to judge that. I think looking at it as a political observer, we see that governors around the country are in political trouble.
In the last election in 2002, both Democratic and Republican incumbent administrations were in trouble politically, because it seems that voters have focused their discontent and their anger about the economy, about taxes, about spending, about the inability of government to perform more at the state level than at the federal level.
So governors are taking hits all over the country. And in the case of California, their problems are magnified...
CALLEBS: Right, right.
FAUCHEUX: ...And Gray Davis' political position is worse than many of the governors because of his personal unpopularity.
CALLEBS: Let's talk about Cruz Bustamante for just a minute. The Democratic leadership in the state really rode him hard, tried to get him not to run. They were successful with the insurance commissioner of the state.
FAUCHEUX: Right.
CALLEBS: Why not Bustamante? And is this going to hurt Davis in the long run?
FAUCHEUX: Well, I think it potentially does hurt Davis because, you know, it does give Democrats an opportunity to go into the voting booth and to vote against the recall, but then to vote for a Democratic replacement candidate.
It also gives Democrats an opportunity, who aren't particularly thrilled with Davis, who think that the Democratic party would be well served for him to leave to vote for the recall...
CALLEBS: Right.
FAUCHEUX: ...and then to vote for a Democratic replacement candidate.
CALLEBS: Quickly, are you concerned about this spiraling, out of control and just becoming a joke? And do the Republicans have a very good chance at taking the gubernatorial leadership there?
FAUCHEUX: Well, anybody who watches elections would be concerned about it. For some reason, this election has attracted all of these candidates and this incredible blend of candidates.
It's really interesting to note that, you know, there was just an election a year ago. And these people weren't running, except for a couple of them like...
CALLEBS: Bill Simon, right.
FAUCHEUX: ...for instance. So for some reason, the unusual nature of this election, the recall nature of it has attracted all these candidates, which usually isn't the case.
So I am concerned about how that works as a process. You know, elections can be fun. They can be interesting. They should attract public participation. But we certainly don't want to trivialize...
CALLEBS: Sure.
FAUCHEUX: ...the serious nature of what it takes to govern a state like California.
CALLEBS: Unusual nature, I like that. That's about as diplomatic as you can put it.
Ron Faucheux, editor and chief of "Campaigns and Election" magazine. Thanks a lot for joining us on this Sunday morning.
FAUCHEUX: Thank you.
CALLEBS: Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
