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Schwarzenegger Won't Take Part in Gubernatorial Debate

Aired September 01, 2003 - 10:27   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.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: California's embattled governor enters this Labor Day with his job on the line. Gray Davis is pushing across the state with his campaign to survive the recall.
CNN's National Correspondent Bob Franken is in Los Angeles now with at of Davis's stops.

Hello to you, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And he will be making several stops today, just about everybody will, of course, because it is Labor Day.

And, of course, the reason there is so much tension being focused on this race is the presence of another candidate, the Republican candidate to replace Davis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who, as we know, Heidi, has run thus far a tightly controlled campaign, a very cautious one, and one that leaves little room for surprise as possible, and it's in that context that there was announcement yesterday.

The announcement was Schwarzenegger would participate in some of the debates here. The announcement didn't mention that he would skip the first two debates and only participate in one, the third week of September put on by the California Broadcasters Association.

Schwarzenegger today is also going to be Labor Day appearing in front of the state fairgrounds in Sacramento.

As for the Democrats, the governor, who wants to keep his job and make all of this moot, Gray Davis, is going to be starting here in Los Angeles, attending a mass and then a rally and then going to the northern part of the state to attend other Labor Day events.

Organized labor is opposing the recall. Two-point-six-million members of the labor unions in California. The labor leaders are going to be arguing that, if a Republican is elected, then the workers would suffer mightily. Of course, Republicans disagree with that.

The other Democrat in the race as the alternative to Davis, of course, is Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante. He is doing his own Labor Day appearances, not joint appearances with Davis, but he'll also be appearing around the state as the Democrats try and fend off what would be a remarkable switch from a Democratic statehouse to a Republican statehouse. Of course, the leading candidate to take over for the GOP is Schwarzenegger. He's got his own problems within the Republican Party. So this is very much still in turmoil as the Labor Day signifies the real official beginning of this unprecedented race -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Well, as Governor Gray Davis goes around the state making all of these stops to talk with the people, Schwarzenegger is saying he's going to skip these first two debates. Could that hurt him? I mean is there some sort of strategy here?

FRANKEN: Well, there's a strategy clearly and that is to avoid surprise, to make sure that everything is very methodical and very, very controlled as much as possible and the question is, is that the smart way to do it or is it the bad way to do it?

Schwarzenegger is surrounded by political advisers. He spent on consultants already about a half million dollars. He's put in $2 million of his own money and they are trying to make sure that this is a campaign that goes very, very, very carefully. The question is whether that's going to be a successful tactic. That, of course, will be for the voters to decide.

COLLINS: And you will be on top of all of it for us, thanks so much Bob Franken from Los Angeles today, 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 September 1, 2003 - 10:27   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: California's embattled governor enters this Labor Day with his job on the line. Gray Davis is pushing across the state with his campaign to survive the recall.
CNN's National Correspondent Bob Franken is in Los Angeles now with at of Davis's stops.

Hello to you, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And he will be making several stops today, just about everybody will, of course, because it is Labor Day.

And, of course, the reason there is so much tension being focused on this race is the presence of another candidate, the Republican candidate to replace Davis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who, as we know, Heidi, has run thus far a tightly controlled campaign, a very cautious one, and one that leaves little room for surprise as possible, and it's in that context that there was announcement yesterday.

The announcement was Schwarzenegger would participate in some of the debates here. The announcement didn't mention that he would skip the first two debates and only participate in one, the third week of September put on by the California Broadcasters Association.

Schwarzenegger today is also going to be Labor Day appearing in front of the state fairgrounds in Sacramento.

As for the Democrats, the governor, who wants to keep his job and make all of this moot, Gray Davis, is going to be starting here in Los Angeles, attending a mass and then a rally and then going to the northern part of the state to attend other Labor Day events.

Organized labor is opposing the recall. Two-point-six-million members of the labor unions in California. The labor leaders are going to be arguing that, if a Republican is elected, then the workers would suffer mightily. Of course, Republicans disagree with that.

The other Democrat in the race as the alternative to Davis, of course, is Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante. He is doing his own Labor Day appearances, not joint appearances with Davis, but he'll also be appearing around the state as the Democrats try and fend off what would be a remarkable switch from a Democratic statehouse to a Republican statehouse. Of course, the leading candidate to take over for the GOP is Schwarzenegger. He's got his own problems within the Republican Party. So this is very much still in turmoil as the Labor Day signifies the real official beginning of this unprecedented race -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Well, as Governor Gray Davis goes around the state making all of these stops to talk with the people, Schwarzenegger is saying he's going to skip these first two debates. Could that hurt him? I mean is there some sort of strategy here?

FRANKEN: Well, there's a strategy clearly and that is to avoid surprise, to make sure that everything is very methodical and very, very controlled as much as possible and the question is, is that the smart way to do it or is it the bad way to do it?

Schwarzenegger is surrounded by political advisers. He spent on consultants already about a half million dollars. He's put in $2 million of his own money and they are trying to make sure that this is a campaign that goes very, very, very carefully. The question is whether that's going to be a successful tactic. That, of course, will be for the voters to decide.

COLLINS: And you will be on top of all of it for us, thanks so much Bob Franken from Los Angeles today, 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