Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
California Recall Election Only 28 Days Away
Aired September 09, 2003 - 05:09 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The California recall election is now only 28 days away and this morning we have some new polling information. They indicate that voters are becoming lukewarm on the recall, but hot on Bustamante.
CNN's Kelly Wallace runs down the numbers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GOV. GRAY DAVIS (D), CALIFORNIA: Thank you. Thank you.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If the election were held today, according to a poll to be released Tuesday, California Governor Gray Davis would be out of a job. Fifty-five percent of likely voters would support the recall, 40 percent would not, a small change from the last field poll in mid-August, when 58 percent said they would oust Davis; 37 percent said he should stay in office.
Davis said the numbers gave him reason to smile.
DAVIS: I'm excited about the field poll. It shows we're making great strides. The last poll had us 21 points behind. Now we're 15 points behind.
WALLACE: Of the replacement candidates, the major Democrat on the ballot, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, leads Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger 30 percent to 25 percent, a larger gap than last month, when Bustamante scored 25 percent with likely voters and Schwarzenegger 22 percent.
Bustamante's campaign says it is not popping the champagne bottles just yet, while Schwarzenegger's aides pointed to the other Republicans in the race, State Senator Tom McClintock and businessman Peter Uberoff, saying they show they have no chance of winning, a not so subtle message that the Schwarzenegger team worries Republicans could split the vote.
This as the gloves are coming off. Arnold Schwarzenegger's team demands an apology after Governor Gray Davis told a supporter a few days ago, "You shouldn't be governor unless you can pronounce the name of the state." Instead of apologizing, Davis slammed the actor turned candidate for supporting a 1994 initiative banning benefits for illegal immigrants.
DAVIS: We were just joking around. But it's no joke that Arnold Schwarzenegger supported 187, which is perceived as anti-immigrant. WALLACE: Schwarzenegger tried to turn the Davis flap to his advantage.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: He doesn't like the way I say the word California because I say Cal-E- fornia rather than Cal-A-fornia. But there's many other words that he doesn't like. He doesn't like lost jobs.
WALLACE (on camera): And the voting has already begun. Californians started casting their absentee ballots Monday. The campaigns now plan mailings to absentee voters, knowing this race will ultimately come down to who can get more supporters to the polls.
Kelly Wallace, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, keep track of the latest on the California recall through our Web site. The address is cnn.com/insidepolitics.
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 9, 2003 - 05:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The California recall election is now only 28 days away and this morning we have some new polling information. They indicate that voters are becoming lukewarm on the recall, but hot on Bustamante.
CNN's Kelly Wallace runs down the numbers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GOV. GRAY DAVIS (D), CALIFORNIA: Thank you. Thank you.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If the election were held today, according to a poll to be released Tuesday, California Governor Gray Davis would be out of a job. Fifty-five percent of likely voters would support the recall, 40 percent would not, a small change from the last field poll in mid-August, when 58 percent said they would oust Davis; 37 percent said he should stay in office.
Davis said the numbers gave him reason to smile.
DAVIS: I'm excited about the field poll. It shows we're making great strides. The last poll had us 21 points behind. Now we're 15 points behind.
WALLACE: Of the replacement candidates, the major Democrat on the ballot, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, leads Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger 30 percent to 25 percent, a larger gap than last month, when Bustamante scored 25 percent with likely voters and Schwarzenegger 22 percent.
Bustamante's campaign says it is not popping the champagne bottles just yet, while Schwarzenegger's aides pointed to the other Republicans in the race, State Senator Tom McClintock and businessman Peter Uberoff, saying they show they have no chance of winning, a not so subtle message that the Schwarzenegger team worries Republicans could split the vote.
This as the gloves are coming off. Arnold Schwarzenegger's team demands an apology after Governor Gray Davis told a supporter a few days ago, "You shouldn't be governor unless you can pronounce the name of the state." Instead of apologizing, Davis slammed the actor turned candidate for supporting a 1994 initiative banning benefits for illegal immigrants.
DAVIS: We were just joking around. But it's no joke that Arnold Schwarzenegger supported 187, which is perceived as anti-immigrant. WALLACE: Schwarzenegger tried to turn the Davis flap to his advantage.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: He doesn't like the way I say the word California because I say Cal-E- fornia rather than Cal-A-fornia. But there's many other words that he doesn't like. He doesn't like lost jobs.
WALLACE (on camera): And the voting has already begun. Californians started casting their absentee ballots Monday. The campaigns now plan mailings to absentee voters, knowing this race will ultimately come down to who can get more supporters to the polls.
Kelly Wallace, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, keep track of the latest on the California recall through our Web site. The address is cnn.com/insidepolitics.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
