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CNN Live At Daybreak

California Voters to Decide Whether to Recall Davis, Elect New Governor

Aired October 07, 2003 - 06:30   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time for your daily dose of California politics. Soon, the race for California will be over, and this week it appears to have come down to a two-man race.
GOP front-runner Arnold Schwarzenegger used his last day to squeeze out more support for his candidacy, while Gray Davis asked voters to just say no -- no to the recall.

And for both, it was a day for buzz words and sound bytes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Gray Davis has terminated jobs, Gray Davis has terminated dreams, Gray Davis has terminated opportunities, and now it's time we terminate Gray Davis.

GOV. GRAY DAVIS (D), CALIFORNIA: Now they've lost the election in California they're trying to steal it. We're not going to let them do it. We're going to send a message loud and clear: no way, no how, no recall!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Oh, but by the end of the day, Arnold Schwarzenegger hopes to have terminated Gray Davis' rule. Let's head live to Los Angeles and check in with Kelly Wallace, who is with the Schwarzenegger campaign.

And the mood there is pretty positive, isn't it?

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is positive, Carol -- quiet, I must add -- in this ballroom this morning. The only sounds you really hear are some volunteers blowing up balloons for what they hope will be a victory celebration tonight.

Every candidate always talks about having the momentum going into election day. Well, Schwarzenegger's aides are saying look at the crowds they have seen over the past few days, including yesterday during a three-city tour, a fly around the state, ending up in San Bernardino, California. The Schwarzenegger team saying the momentum is on its side.

And the aides believe, despite the allegations against Schwarzenegger, including accusations coming from 15 different women that Schwarzenegger committed acts of sexual misconduct against them, well, the Schwarzenegger team believes ultimately these allegations will not hurt Schwarzenegger; that this recall will pass. They also believe Schwarzenegger then will become governor.

And they believe ultimately, Carol, that all of these accusations could end up hurting Governor Gray Davis, because Schwarzenegger's aides have been saying for the past several days they believe these stories are being orchestrated, or at least being focused on, by the Democrats, including Governor Davis.

Ultimately, though, they won't know the answer to all of this until today. The key is getting out the vote. They have tried to send out messages, voters guides to get people to the polls. And the candidate himself and his wife, Marie Shriver, are heading to the polls about five hours from now -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Oh, I was just going to ask you that, because he's probably sleeping right now, at least we hope so.

WALLACE: We hope so.

COSTELLO: All right, Kelly Wallace...

WALLACE: Yes, we hope so.

COSTELLO: Kelly Wallace live from Los Angeles.

Now, we want to check in with CNN's Charles Feldman, who is covering the Davis camp. He joins us by phone live from Los Angeles, too.

Good morning. What's the mood like there?

CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, I can tell you one thing. Governor Davis is almost certainly still sleeping. It's about 3:30 in the morning California time, and the governor is notorious for not conducting state business of any merit until around 11:00 a.m. California time. But I think he's going to be up a little bit earlier today to cast a ballot for himself -- well, actually in this case, it would be a ballot saying no to the recall.

And publicly at least, the governor's people are saying that the polls, that are indicating that either it's a tightening race or one in which the recall is going to win, they're hoping are going to prove to be wrong.

They do point out -- and I've pointed out and others have -- that this is a very historic time for California, so there is no real statistical model for these polls. And so, a lot of people are not putting as much confidence in them as they might otherwise.

That being said, they're going about their business. The governor has in the past couple of weeks, as many governors do when they think they're going to be leaving, he's staffed many judgeships and commission heads with Democrats -- you know, Democratic cronies of his. Many of those are fixed terms. That means that if Arnold Schwarzenegger does become governor, he will be stuck with many Democrats in key positions around the state. So, you could call that, if you will, a sort of legacy of Gray Davis should the recall go through.

But his people are saying publicly they think that they will, in the end, squeak through. Privately, they're nervous -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, I was just going to say, the Davis campaign probably takes its own poll. And then, you have Gray Davis madly appointing people just in case. I don't know if that tells you anything, but, you know...

FELDMAN: Well, as I said, you know, about all of these polls, you know, Carol, if you have an aging grandmother who you haven't talked to in Illinois for a couple of years, you call her up. She can probably give you as much expert advice in this as any expert.

COSTELLO: Charles Feldman, many 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.




New Governor>


Aired October 7, 2003 - 06:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time for your daily dose of California politics. Soon, the race for California will be over, and this week it appears to have come down to a two-man race.
GOP front-runner Arnold Schwarzenegger used his last day to squeeze out more support for his candidacy, while Gray Davis asked voters to just say no -- no to the recall.

And for both, it was a day for buzz words and sound bytes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Gray Davis has terminated jobs, Gray Davis has terminated dreams, Gray Davis has terminated opportunities, and now it's time we terminate Gray Davis.

GOV. GRAY DAVIS (D), CALIFORNIA: Now they've lost the election in California they're trying to steal it. We're not going to let them do it. We're going to send a message loud and clear: no way, no how, no recall!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Oh, but by the end of the day, Arnold Schwarzenegger hopes to have terminated Gray Davis' rule. Let's head live to Los Angeles and check in with Kelly Wallace, who is with the Schwarzenegger campaign.

And the mood there is pretty positive, isn't it?

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is positive, Carol -- quiet, I must add -- in this ballroom this morning. The only sounds you really hear are some volunteers blowing up balloons for what they hope will be a victory celebration tonight.

Every candidate always talks about having the momentum going into election day. Well, Schwarzenegger's aides are saying look at the crowds they have seen over the past few days, including yesterday during a three-city tour, a fly around the state, ending up in San Bernardino, California. The Schwarzenegger team saying the momentum is on its side.

And the aides believe, despite the allegations against Schwarzenegger, including accusations coming from 15 different women that Schwarzenegger committed acts of sexual misconduct against them, well, the Schwarzenegger team believes ultimately these allegations will not hurt Schwarzenegger; that this recall will pass. They also believe Schwarzenegger then will become governor.

And they believe ultimately, Carol, that all of these accusations could end up hurting Governor Gray Davis, because Schwarzenegger's aides have been saying for the past several days they believe these stories are being orchestrated, or at least being focused on, by the Democrats, including Governor Davis.

Ultimately, though, they won't know the answer to all of this until today. The key is getting out the vote. They have tried to send out messages, voters guides to get people to the polls. And the candidate himself and his wife, Marie Shriver, are heading to the polls about five hours from now -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Oh, I was just going to ask you that, because he's probably sleeping right now, at least we hope so.

WALLACE: We hope so.

COSTELLO: All right, Kelly Wallace...

WALLACE: Yes, we hope so.

COSTELLO: Kelly Wallace live from Los Angeles.

Now, we want to check in with CNN's Charles Feldman, who is covering the Davis camp. He joins us by phone live from Los Angeles, too.

Good morning. What's the mood like there?

CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, I can tell you one thing. Governor Davis is almost certainly still sleeping. It's about 3:30 in the morning California time, and the governor is notorious for not conducting state business of any merit until around 11:00 a.m. California time. But I think he's going to be up a little bit earlier today to cast a ballot for himself -- well, actually in this case, it would be a ballot saying no to the recall.

And publicly at least, the governor's people are saying that the polls, that are indicating that either it's a tightening race or one in which the recall is going to win, they're hoping are going to prove to be wrong.

They do point out -- and I've pointed out and others have -- that this is a very historic time for California, so there is no real statistical model for these polls. And so, a lot of people are not putting as much confidence in them as they might otherwise.

That being said, they're going about their business. The governor has in the past couple of weeks, as many governors do when they think they're going to be leaving, he's staffed many judgeships and commission heads with Democrats -- you know, Democratic cronies of his. Many of those are fixed terms. That means that if Arnold Schwarzenegger does become governor, he will be stuck with many Democrats in key positions around the state. So, you could call that, if you will, a sort of legacy of Gray Davis should the recall go through.

But his people are saying publicly they think that they will, in the end, squeak through. Privately, they're nervous -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, I was just going to say, the Davis campaign probably takes its own poll. And then, you have Gray Davis madly appointing people just in case. I don't know if that tells you anything, but, you know...

FELDMAN: Well, as I said, you know, about all of these polls, you know, Carol, if you have an aging grandmother who you haven't talked to in Illinois for a couple of years, you call her up. She can probably give you as much expert advice in this as any expert.

COSTELLO: Charles Feldman, many 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.




New Governor>