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CNN Live Today
California Recall
Aired October 01, 2003 - 10:02 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to California. Hey, and in California, what a difference a day makes. Arianna Huffington has spent weeks trying to win Gray Davis' job as governor. Well, get this, today, she's campaigning for him to keep his job. It's just the latest twist of the recall race that's sprinting toward the wire and getting even more suspenseful with every poll that comes out. Let's bring in our national correspondent Bob Franken with more on this.
And, Bob, what was it, 24 hours ago I asked you if we had time for any more twists? Guess what happens?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATL. CORRESPONDENT: Well, you have to stop asking that question, because the answer every day is, well, of course. Now the latest twist is one that was anticipating. Arianna Huffington, who never really made much of a mark in the polls, decided that she was going to get out. And where do people go and do that these days? Well, they go to "THE LARRY KING TONIGHT" show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON: I'm pulling out, and I'm going to concentrate every ounce of time and energy over the next week working to defeat the recall, because I've realized that that's the only way now to defeat Arnold Schwarzenegger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARNOLD SCHWARZNEGGER (R), CALIF. GOV. CANDIDATE: Interesting. Very interesting. I say too bad that she's dropping out. She brought a lot of color and a lot of excitement to the whole process, I thought. So, I mean, but I wish her good luck. I really wish her good luck.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: Arnold Schwarzenegger is not saying anything controversial, and while he might be trying to avoid that. There is a new "L.A. Times" poll out there, which is good news for him, bad news for the Democrats, bad news for Governor Gray Davis. It shows that there is in fact an upward trend of those who will vote for the recall. The CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll showed the same thing on the weekend. "The L.A. Times" poll shows that 56 percent will vote for the recall, those who are defined as likely voters with a plus or minus three margin of error. Anyway, 56 percent support the recall, 42 percent against. As far as Schwarzenegger is concerned, big smile on his face. This poll also shows that he's pulled ahead of Cruz Bustamante, eight points as you can see in this poll. Tom McClintock, the other Republican, has dropped a little bit.
So what are the Democrats doing to try to reverse things and come out with a surprise? Well, that new Democrat, Wesley Clark, the new Democrat presidential candidate, is going to be in the state today, marching alongside both Davis and then Cruz Bustamante later in the day, and that well-known Democrat, the former president Bill Clinton will be making a visit to the state tomorrow. It's his second. He was here less than two weeks ago. One should point out that since he's been here opposing the recall, support for the recall has gone up.
HARRIS: That's exactly what I was going to ask you about, Bob, because it seems even though these high-level Democrats have been going out there, it doesn't seem they've been able to gain traction at all with the audience. Any sense at all that it'll be different this time around now that the landscape has changed quite a bit with few people dropping out?
FRANKEN: Well, it's hard to tell exactly where the Arianna support, what there was it, will go. We do know there is going to be a massive ad campaign on television. We do know that the labor unions in particular have a huge calling operation going to. They're trying to tell Democrats in this Democratic state, that if a Republican gets into the statehouse, there is going to be a reversal in some of the worker's protections in the state. That message hasn't taken yet. They have six days to try and make it take.
HARRIS: All right, good deal. Thanks, Bob. Bob Franken, reporting live for us, appreciate it. We'll check back with you later on.
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 October 1, 2003 - 10:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to California. Hey, and in California, what a difference a day makes. Arianna Huffington has spent weeks trying to win Gray Davis' job as governor. Well, get this, today, she's campaigning for him to keep his job. It's just the latest twist of the recall race that's sprinting toward the wire and getting even more suspenseful with every poll that comes out. Let's bring in our national correspondent Bob Franken with more on this.
And, Bob, what was it, 24 hours ago I asked you if we had time for any more twists? Guess what happens?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATL. CORRESPONDENT: Well, you have to stop asking that question, because the answer every day is, well, of course. Now the latest twist is one that was anticipating. Arianna Huffington, who never really made much of a mark in the polls, decided that she was going to get out. And where do people go and do that these days? Well, they go to "THE LARRY KING TONIGHT" show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON: I'm pulling out, and I'm going to concentrate every ounce of time and energy over the next week working to defeat the recall, because I've realized that that's the only way now to defeat Arnold Schwarzenegger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARNOLD SCHWARZNEGGER (R), CALIF. GOV. CANDIDATE: Interesting. Very interesting. I say too bad that she's dropping out. She brought a lot of color and a lot of excitement to the whole process, I thought. So, I mean, but I wish her good luck. I really wish her good luck.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: Arnold Schwarzenegger is not saying anything controversial, and while he might be trying to avoid that. There is a new "L.A. Times" poll out there, which is good news for him, bad news for the Democrats, bad news for Governor Gray Davis. It shows that there is in fact an upward trend of those who will vote for the recall. The CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll showed the same thing on the weekend. "The L.A. Times" poll shows that 56 percent will vote for the recall, those who are defined as likely voters with a plus or minus three margin of error. Anyway, 56 percent support the recall, 42 percent against. As far as Schwarzenegger is concerned, big smile on his face. This poll also shows that he's pulled ahead of Cruz Bustamante, eight points as you can see in this poll. Tom McClintock, the other Republican, has dropped a little bit.
So what are the Democrats doing to try to reverse things and come out with a surprise? Well, that new Democrat, Wesley Clark, the new Democrat presidential candidate, is going to be in the state today, marching alongside both Davis and then Cruz Bustamante later in the day, and that well-known Democrat, the former president Bill Clinton will be making a visit to the state tomorrow. It's his second. He was here less than two weeks ago. One should point out that since he's been here opposing the recall, support for the recall has gone up.
HARRIS: That's exactly what I was going to ask you about, Bob, because it seems even though these high-level Democrats have been going out there, it doesn't seem they've been able to gain traction at all with the audience. Any sense at all that it'll be different this time around now that the landscape has changed quite a bit with few people dropping out?
FRANKEN: Well, it's hard to tell exactly where the Arianna support, what there was it, will go. We do know there is going to be a massive ad campaign on television. We do know that the labor unions in particular have a huge calling operation going to. They're trying to tell Democrats in this Democratic state, that if a Republican gets into the statehouse, there is going to be a reversal in some of the worker's protections in the state. That message hasn't taken yet. They have six days to try and make it take.
HARRIS: All right, good deal. Thanks, Bob. Bob Franken, reporting live for us, appreciate it. We'll check back with you later on.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
