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American Morning
California's Gubernatorial Recall Election Will Go on as Scheduled
Aired August 21, 2003 - 07:20 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hanging chads notwithstanding, California's gubernatorial recall election will go on as scheduled on October 7. A federal judge yesterday rejected an ACLU lawsuit that called for the vote to be delayed until the spring.
CNN's Bob Franken has this report from Los Angeles.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Federal Judge Stephen Wilson ruled that even though six California counties will use the discredit punch card ballots, the recall election is so extraordinary and in this case unprecedented, in his words, there is a strong public interest in going forward.
The decision was announced just as Arnold Schwarzenegger went forward with the next step in his carefully scripted, heavily covered campaign to change roles from actor to governor.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: I would have wished to have this kind of a turnout when I did "Last Action Hero."
FRANKEN: The question of the day was what action would a Governor Schwarzenegger take to solve California's crippling budget problems. He met privately with his financial advisers, including investment guru Warren Buffett. Buffett caused huge controversy last week when he said the state's Proposition 13 made property taxes too low. Schwarzenegger supports the Proposition.
Another candidate, Peter Uberoff, had called his own news conference with some specific proposals, including an amnesty for tax delinquents and he had some generalities.
PETER UBEROFF (R), CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: I would impose, use every ounce of energy, strict spending caps to reign in the out of control spending.
FRANKEN: Schwarzenegger had even fewer details.
SCHWARZENEGGER: Now, does this mean that we are going to make cuts? Yes. Does this mean education is on the table? No. Does this mean I'm willing to raise taxes? No.
FRANKEN: Does this mean he was making a no new taxes pledge?
SCHWARZENEGGER: It is clear that we can't ever say never.
FRANKEN: Schwarzenegger made it clear he could say never to Warren Buffett.
SCHWARZENEGGER: I told Warren if he mentions Prop 13 one more time he has to do 500 sit-ups.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: This exercise in direct government continues, Soledad, along a track that is a never ending wonder of twists and turns -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, Bob Franken, thanks.
Arnold Schwarzenegger may have the muscle, but can he do the math and solve California's $38 billion budget shortfall?
Joining us from Washington, D.C. now to talk about Schwarzenegger's performance in his first news conference is Ron Brownstein of the "Los Angeles Times."
Good morning.
Nice to see you.
RON BROWNSTEIN, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": Good morning, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: He certainly has had some trouble with potential voters and also political pundits about his ability to articulate specifics of his plan. So first and foremost, did he get to the nuts and bolts of what he plans to do if he's elected governor?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes and no. I mean he took a step forward, but probably not as far as the critics are going to want him to go. He gave us a little more sense of his inclination when he said that he did not want to cut education, he did not want to raise taxes. But he also basically left the big questions to after the elections when he told us that he was going to appoint a commission to basically scrub the budget for 60 days before coming back with a lot of his specifics.
So overall, you get a sense that this is a Republican economic plan. I mean he made it very clear his desire to have less spending, less taxes, less regulation. But exactly how he would implement it, that's for later.
O'BRIEN: All right, but putting kids first, no new taxes, no cuts in education, when people sort of analyze that overall strategy, is that actually financially feasible?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think it's going to be very difficult. Look, I mean, you know, he basically told us what he wouldn't do. He didn't tell us what he would do. And that's where the crunch is. But even what he wouldn't do gives a clear contrast. I mean this race is beginning to develop where you have both the governor, Gray Davis, and certainly the lieutenant governor, Cruz Bustamante, the two Democrats, uneasily both on the ballot, saying that it is going to require higher taxes, especially on the affluent, to close this persistent shortfall; Schwarzenegger ruling them out. That begins to give some ideological definition to the race.
And by and large, Schwarzenegger, I think, in that performance is trying to minimize the ideological contrast, trying to have as broad an appeal as possible. He talked a lot about his ability to work in both parties. Despite that, as he states more preferences, inevitably he narrows his appeal.
O'BRIEN: Well, as you mentioned, performance. We've said a couple of times, for someone who has zero political experience, performance, how they come across sort of in the big picture, is going to be very important. Rate for me how you think he did.
BROWNSTEIN: I think that he did very well on one dimension and not as well on another. The dimension he does very well on is turning everything back to his core message, which is kind of a people versus the politicians. He doesn't want this to be a left-right or a Republican-Democratic argument, because this is a state that predominantly leans Democratic. It's given the Democratic presidential candidate more than a million vote margin in each of the past three elections.
He wants it to be an insider/outsider election, and he turns every question back to that, I think very effectively, talking about his ability to go to Sacramento with no baggage, as an independent, his ability to work with both parties.
Where he did less well, I think, is in answering the details questions of what he's going to do. At times he said, you know, at one point he said something to the effect of that, you know, the people don't care about figures, they don't care about numbers. That was, I think, a little over the top and something that may come back to haunt him.
O'BRIEN: We only have a few seconds left, but I want to ask you a quick question about the recall. Efforts by the ACLU were denied by a judge, to push the vote back. Does that mean it's the end of it, it's not, it's going to go off as planned on October 7?
BROWNSTEIN: I'm guessing they continue to fight this. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is somewhat more left leaning and so they may go forward. But if it does go forward in November, that's probably -- I'm sorry, in October -- that's probably a blow to Davis. The longer it stretches out, the longer the chance that the economy will recover, the longer the chance for the steam behind this whole effort to lose some momentum.
So he's probably disadvantaged if it has to go forward in October, which it now, by all accounts, looks like it will.
O'BRIEN: Ronald Brownstein of the "L.A. Times," thanks for joining us this morning.
BROWNSTEIN: Thank you. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Scheduled>
Aired August 21, 2003 - 07:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hanging chads notwithstanding, California's gubernatorial recall election will go on as scheduled on October 7. A federal judge yesterday rejected an ACLU lawsuit that called for the vote to be delayed until the spring.
CNN's Bob Franken has this report from Los Angeles.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Federal Judge Stephen Wilson ruled that even though six California counties will use the discredit punch card ballots, the recall election is so extraordinary and in this case unprecedented, in his words, there is a strong public interest in going forward.
The decision was announced just as Arnold Schwarzenegger went forward with the next step in his carefully scripted, heavily covered campaign to change roles from actor to governor.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: I would have wished to have this kind of a turnout when I did "Last Action Hero."
FRANKEN: The question of the day was what action would a Governor Schwarzenegger take to solve California's crippling budget problems. He met privately with his financial advisers, including investment guru Warren Buffett. Buffett caused huge controversy last week when he said the state's Proposition 13 made property taxes too low. Schwarzenegger supports the Proposition.
Another candidate, Peter Uberoff, had called his own news conference with some specific proposals, including an amnesty for tax delinquents and he had some generalities.
PETER UBEROFF (R), CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: I would impose, use every ounce of energy, strict spending caps to reign in the out of control spending.
FRANKEN: Schwarzenegger had even fewer details.
SCHWARZENEGGER: Now, does this mean that we are going to make cuts? Yes. Does this mean education is on the table? No. Does this mean I'm willing to raise taxes? No.
FRANKEN: Does this mean he was making a no new taxes pledge?
SCHWARZENEGGER: It is clear that we can't ever say never.
FRANKEN: Schwarzenegger made it clear he could say never to Warren Buffett.
SCHWARZENEGGER: I told Warren if he mentions Prop 13 one more time he has to do 500 sit-ups.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: This exercise in direct government continues, Soledad, along a track that is a never ending wonder of twists and turns -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, Bob Franken, thanks.
Arnold Schwarzenegger may have the muscle, but can he do the math and solve California's $38 billion budget shortfall?
Joining us from Washington, D.C. now to talk about Schwarzenegger's performance in his first news conference is Ron Brownstein of the "Los Angeles Times."
Good morning.
Nice to see you.
RON BROWNSTEIN, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": Good morning, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: He certainly has had some trouble with potential voters and also political pundits about his ability to articulate specifics of his plan. So first and foremost, did he get to the nuts and bolts of what he plans to do if he's elected governor?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes and no. I mean he took a step forward, but probably not as far as the critics are going to want him to go. He gave us a little more sense of his inclination when he said that he did not want to cut education, he did not want to raise taxes. But he also basically left the big questions to after the elections when he told us that he was going to appoint a commission to basically scrub the budget for 60 days before coming back with a lot of his specifics.
So overall, you get a sense that this is a Republican economic plan. I mean he made it very clear his desire to have less spending, less taxes, less regulation. But exactly how he would implement it, that's for later.
O'BRIEN: All right, but putting kids first, no new taxes, no cuts in education, when people sort of analyze that overall strategy, is that actually financially feasible?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think it's going to be very difficult. Look, I mean, you know, he basically told us what he wouldn't do. He didn't tell us what he would do. And that's where the crunch is. But even what he wouldn't do gives a clear contrast. I mean this race is beginning to develop where you have both the governor, Gray Davis, and certainly the lieutenant governor, Cruz Bustamante, the two Democrats, uneasily both on the ballot, saying that it is going to require higher taxes, especially on the affluent, to close this persistent shortfall; Schwarzenegger ruling them out. That begins to give some ideological definition to the race.
And by and large, Schwarzenegger, I think, in that performance is trying to minimize the ideological contrast, trying to have as broad an appeal as possible. He talked a lot about his ability to work in both parties. Despite that, as he states more preferences, inevitably he narrows his appeal.
O'BRIEN: Well, as you mentioned, performance. We've said a couple of times, for someone who has zero political experience, performance, how they come across sort of in the big picture, is going to be very important. Rate for me how you think he did.
BROWNSTEIN: I think that he did very well on one dimension and not as well on another. The dimension he does very well on is turning everything back to his core message, which is kind of a people versus the politicians. He doesn't want this to be a left-right or a Republican-Democratic argument, because this is a state that predominantly leans Democratic. It's given the Democratic presidential candidate more than a million vote margin in each of the past three elections.
He wants it to be an insider/outsider election, and he turns every question back to that, I think very effectively, talking about his ability to go to Sacramento with no baggage, as an independent, his ability to work with both parties.
Where he did less well, I think, is in answering the details questions of what he's going to do. At times he said, you know, at one point he said something to the effect of that, you know, the people don't care about figures, they don't care about numbers. That was, I think, a little over the top and something that may come back to haunt him.
O'BRIEN: We only have a few seconds left, but I want to ask you a quick question about the recall. Efforts by the ACLU were denied by a judge, to push the vote back. Does that mean it's the end of it, it's not, it's going to go off as planned on October 7?
BROWNSTEIN: I'm guessing they continue to fight this. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is somewhat more left leaning and so they may go forward. But if it does go forward in November, that's probably -- I'm sorry, in October -- that's probably a blow to Davis. The longer it stretches out, the longer the chance that the economy will recover, the longer the chance for the steam behind this whole effort to lose some momentum.
So he's probably disadvantaged if it has to go forward in October, which it now, by all accounts, looks like it will.
O'BRIEN: Ronald Brownstein of the "L.A. Times," thanks for joining us this morning.
BROWNSTEIN: Thank you. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Scheduled>
