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American Morning
Recall Rages On
Aired August 22, 2003 - 09:09 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: On the West Coast, the recall rages on. While beleaguered California Governor Gray Davis gets a boost from a popular politician, his lieutenant governor, Cruz Bustamante, picks up a key endorsement.
CNN's Bob Franken is live in Los Angeles with the very latest for us -- hey, Bob, good morning.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
And this is all over the map. First of all, you remember the poll that showed Cruz Bustamante, the Democrat lieutenant governor candidate, ahead of Arnold Schwarzenegger? Well, there's a new poll, this one from California Public Policy Institute, which says that Schwarzenegger is a little bit ahead of Bustamante by a couple of percentage points. But it also says that 58 percent of the likely voters in this state would want to recall Governor Gray Davis. That's similar to a poll that we heard about last week. Forty percent of them are Democrats, and that's considered very bad news for the Democrats.
So they're responding by sort of hedging their bets. Not only are they coming out against the recall, as Governor Gray Davis wanted, but there's a second part of the strategy he did not want, and that was to express their support for Bustamante. That's what happened yesterday with the 33 members of the congressional delegation, the Democrats from California. They decided to have this two pronged strategy.
And Nancy Pelosi, the congresswoman from San Francisco, called Davis to tell him about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), CALIFORNIA: We have informed him that this is the course of action that we have chosen and we think it's our best hope to retain him in office. And if not, not to give a victory to these makers of mischief. At the end of the day, we will have a Democratic governor of California.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: Well, even Davis may be seeing the handwriting on the wall. He's starting to slide a little bit toward maybe campaigning with Bustamante, saying I believe the excitement of his candidacy will bring out more voters who will vote against the recall.
Now, one of Davis' big supporters, Senator Diane Feinstein, is dead set against the two pronged strategy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: I am not going to vote on the second part of the ballot. I am going to vote on the first part of the ballot and my vote is going to be to vote no on the recall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: Now, of course, the Republicans have their own problems. That's to say that there are several of them who could split the vote. So there is some pressure on some of what are regarded as the lesser candidates, Bill Simon and Tom McClintock, to step aside for Schwarzenegger. But so far no hasta la vistas -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Very, very complicated there, obviously.
All right, thanks for that update, at least the start of it. And we will continue, of course, to follow it and see where it all ends on October 7.
Thanks.
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 22, 2003 - 09:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: On the West Coast, the recall rages on. While beleaguered California Governor Gray Davis gets a boost from a popular politician, his lieutenant governor, Cruz Bustamante, picks up a key endorsement.
CNN's Bob Franken is live in Los Angeles with the very latest for us -- hey, Bob, good morning.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
And this is all over the map. First of all, you remember the poll that showed Cruz Bustamante, the Democrat lieutenant governor candidate, ahead of Arnold Schwarzenegger? Well, there's a new poll, this one from California Public Policy Institute, which says that Schwarzenegger is a little bit ahead of Bustamante by a couple of percentage points. But it also says that 58 percent of the likely voters in this state would want to recall Governor Gray Davis. That's similar to a poll that we heard about last week. Forty percent of them are Democrats, and that's considered very bad news for the Democrats.
So they're responding by sort of hedging their bets. Not only are they coming out against the recall, as Governor Gray Davis wanted, but there's a second part of the strategy he did not want, and that was to express their support for Bustamante. That's what happened yesterday with the 33 members of the congressional delegation, the Democrats from California. They decided to have this two pronged strategy.
And Nancy Pelosi, the congresswoman from San Francisco, called Davis to tell him about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), CALIFORNIA: We have informed him that this is the course of action that we have chosen and we think it's our best hope to retain him in office. And if not, not to give a victory to these makers of mischief. At the end of the day, we will have a Democratic governor of California.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: Well, even Davis may be seeing the handwriting on the wall. He's starting to slide a little bit toward maybe campaigning with Bustamante, saying I believe the excitement of his candidacy will bring out more voters who will vote against the recall.
Now, one of Davis' big supporters, Senator Diane Feinstein, is dead set against the two pronged strategy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: I am not going to vote on the second part of the ballot. I am going to vote on the first part of the ballot and my vote is going to be to vote no on the recall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: Now, of course, the Republicans have their own problems. That's to say that there are several of them who could split the vote. So there is some pressure on some of what are regarded as the lesser candidates, Bill Simon and Tom McClintock, to step aside for Schwarzenegger. But so far no hasta la vistas -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Very, very complicated there, obviously.
All right, thanks for that update, at least the start of it. And we will continue, of course, to follow it and see where it all ends on October 7.
Thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
