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American Morning
Battle for California
Aired September 29, 2003 - 09:05 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: With just eight days to go until California's recall vote, the latest CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll of likely voters has bad news for Governor Gray Davis. Only 35 percent of those polled said they'd vote to keep him. And Arnold Schwarzenegger is surging ahead of the pack of challengers now with 40 percent of the vote, compared to 25 percent for Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante.
National correspondent Bob Franken is live in L.A. with the latest, watching this whole thing go down.
What could these new numbers mean? Do we really know yet?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not really. As a matter of fact, the people who did this, the CNN and "USA Today" and Gallup poll people are being very, very cautious on how they present this. First of all, they talk about probable voters, not likely voters, because one of the difficult things in taking a poll out here has been it's really hard to know what kind of voter turnout there's going to be. This is an extremely unusual election, and it's also extremely unusual, because of the possibility of this very well-known man, Arnold Schwarzenegger, being a participant, one of 135 people on a ballot. What role that large ballot is going to play is one that bedevils the pollsters as they're trying to do things.
And it's also -- the poll reflects this -- an extremely volatile election. With eight days left, just about anything could happen. But Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is out riding the crest, as he sees it, has gotten more and more aggressive in the campaign comments that he's making.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARNOLD SCWARZENEGGER (R), CALIF. GOV. CANDIDATE: Those guys have terminated dreams, those guys have terminated jobs, they've terminated opportunities, they've terminated, you know, everything that we had. Now it is time that we terminate them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: The word "terminate" has become certainly a word we've become familiar with as this election has gone on. As far as the Davis people are concerned, of course the poll was extremely bad news for them. A spokesman, however, questioned the poll, questioned it. He said it's a joke -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Wow. All right, national correspondent Bob Franken, thanks so much.
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 29, 2003 - 09:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: With just eight days to go until California's recall vote, the latest CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll of likely voters has bad news for Governor Gray Davis. Only 35 percent of those polled said they'd vote to keep him. And Arnold Schwarzenegger is surging ahead of the pack of challengers now with 40 percent of the vote, compared to 25 percent for Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante.
National correspondent Bob Franken is live in L.A. with the latest, watching this whole thing go down.
What could these new numbers mean? Do we really know yet?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not really. As a matter of fact, the people who did this, the CNN and "USA Today" and Gallup poll people are being very, very cautious on how they present this. First of all, they talk about probable voters, not likely voters, because one of the difficult things in taking a poll out here has been it's really hard to know what kind of voter turnout there's going to be. This is an extremely unusual election, and it's also extremely unusual, because of the possibility of this very well-known man, Arnold Schwarzenegger, being a participant, one of 135 people on a ballot. What role that large ballot is going to play is one that bedevils the pollsters as they're trying to do things.
And it's also -- the poll reflects this -- an extremely volatile election. With eight days left, just about anything could happen. But Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is out riding the crest, as he sees it, has gotten more and more aggressive in the campaign comments that he's making.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARNOLD SCWARZENEGGER (R), CALIF. GOV. CANDIDATE: Those guys have terminated dreams, those guys have terminated jobs, they've terminated opportunities, they've terminated, you know, everything that we had. Now it is time that we terminate them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: The word "terminate" has become certainly a word we've become familiar with as this election has gone on. As far as the Davis people are concerned, of course the poll was extremely bad news for them. A spokesman, however, questioned the poll, questioned it. He said it's a joke -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Wow. All right, national correspondent Bob Franken, thanks so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
