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CNN Live At Daybreak

California Recall: Election Wrap

Aired October 08, 2003 - 06:00   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: Technically the votes are still being counted in California. We've been updating the numbers every few minutes on DAYBREAK. With just about 100 percent of the precincts reporting, this is how it stands right now.
In the recall race, 54 percent voted to recall Governor Gray Davis. That means he leaves office. And a new governor will take his place, and you know who that is by now -- none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger. As you can see, he handily beat Cruz Bustamante, the Democrat. He won with 3.3 million votes. Bustamante had 2.2 million. The person who came in third was Tom McClintock the Republican. He only had, oh, some 800,000.

As I said, this is with just about 100 percent of the precincts reporting.

As a Republican, though, Schwarzenegger does have his work cut out for him. Democrats have the majority of the state legislature, but Schwarzenegger says partisan politics must end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR-ELECT: We have tough choices ahead. The first choice that we must make is the one that will determine our success. Shall we rebuild our state together, or shall we fight amongst ourselves and create even deeper division and fail the people of California? Well, let me tell you something, the answer is clear. For the people to win, politics as usual must lose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And one enters, the other prepares to leave. Governor Gray Davis thanking supporters after it became apparent he was being tossed out, the first governor in 82 years to be shown the door by voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GRAY DAVIS (D), CALIFORNIA: Tonight, the voters decided it's time for someone else to serve, and...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No! DAVIS: No? That's what the -- my friends...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want Davis!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We Want Davis!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We Want Davis!

DAVIS: We've had a lot of good nights over the last 20 years, but tonight the people did decide it is time for someone else to serve, and I accept their judgment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN national correspondent Bob Franken is a veteran political reporter. He's been in California.

And I guess, Bob, you've been up all night long watching this thing develop. And the odd thing is Gray Davis looked more relaxed in defeat than he ever did during the campaign.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, good losers have always questioned good losers. But in retrospect, now we can say that the handwriting was on the wall.

Here, we have a candidate who was extremely unpopular. I mean, he was going to have to overcome tremendous personal distaste that he had developed of the voters of California. And he was just not able to do that. Of course, he had this outlandish, outlandish recall campaign, and that's the only way to describe it -- made more outlandish by the entrance of the actor, born in Austria, who was known for his "Terminator" movies. And I'm going to avoid all of the "Terminator" puns that we've been making over the last several weeks.

But he is now going to have to see if he can take his act to Sacramento and enter this new political theater.

COSTELLO: Yes, because he's going to have a tough job ahead, because most in the state legislature are liberal Democrats.

FRANKEN: Well, that's just the start. First of all, he said that it's time for an end to partisan politics. And I'm going to make a prediction: No, it's not. There is going to be a tremendous surge of partisan politics after everybody smiles sweetly and goes through a transition, which itself can be a bit rocky.

Then comes the reality, as you pointed out, a Democrat legislature. He also has raised expectations that he's going to somehow see to it that taxes can be controlled, and yet the budget mess, which is a huge budget mess, can be controlled also, in a state where just about everything is really decided by proposition.

They have this form of government which dates back about 92 years. It's where the recall movement began, which also allows this direct democracy, which was not what the founders of the United States in the Constitution envisioned. They envisioned something of a representative democracy, where the people who they elected would go in finite terms and then do their job.

What you had in California was a polite, even though raucous, revolution.

COSTELLO: Yes. Well, we'll see what happens. Bob Franken reporting live from Los Angeles.

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 8, 2003 - 06:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Technically the votes are still being counted in California. We've been updating the numbers every few minutes on DAYBREAK. With just about 100 percent of the precincts reporting, this is how it stands right now.
In the recall race, 54 percent voted to recall Governor Gray Davis. That means he leaves office. And a new governor will take his place, and you know who that is by now -- none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger. As you can see, he handily beat Cruz Bustamante, the Democrat. He won with 3.3 million votes. Bustamante had 2.2 million. The person who came in third was Tom McClintock the Republican. He only had, oh, some 800,000.

As I said, this is with just about 100 percent of the precincts reporting.

As a Republican, though, Schwarzenegger does have his work cut out for him. Democrats have the majority of the state legislature, but Schwarzenegger says partisan politics must end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR-ELECT: We have tough choices ahead. The first choice that we must make is the one that will determine our success. Shall we rebuild our state together, or shall we fight amongst ourselves and create even deeper division and fail the people of California? Well, let me tell you something, the answer is clear. For the people to win, politics as usual must lose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And one enters, the other prepares to leave. Governor Gray Davis thanking supporters after it became apparent he was being tossed out, the first governor in 82 years to be shown the door by voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GRAY DAVIS (D), CALIFORNIA: Tonight, the voters decided it's time for someone else to serve, and...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No! DAVIS: No? That's what the -- my friends...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want Davis!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We Want Davis!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We Want Davis!

DAVIS: We've had a lot of good nights over the last 20 years, but tonight the people did decide it is time for someone else to serve, and I accept their judgment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN national correspondent Bob Franken is a veteran political reporter. He's been in California.

And I guess, Bob, you've been up all night long watching this thing develop. And the odd thing is Gray Davis looked more relaxed in defeat than he ever did during the campaign.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, good losers have always questioned good losers. But in retrospect, now we can say that the handwriting was on the wall.

Here, we have a candidate who was extremely unpopular. I mean, he was going to have to overcome tremendous personal distaste that he had developed of the voters of California. And he was just not able to do that. Of course, he had this outlandish, outlandish recall campaign, and that's the only way to describe it -- made more outlandish by the entrance of the actor, born in Austria, who was known for his "Terminator" movies. And I'm going to avoid all of the "Terminator" puns that we've been making over the last several weeks.

But he is now going to have to see if he can take his act to Sacramento and enter this new political theater.

COSTELLO: Yes, because he's going to have a tough job ahead, because most in the state legislature are liberal Democrats.

FRANKEN: Well, that's just the start. First of all, he said that it's time for an end to partisan politics. And I'm going to make a prediction: No, it's not. There is going to be a tremendous surge of partisan politics after everybody smiles sweetly and goes through a transition, which itself can be a bit rocky.

Then comes the reality, as you pointed out, a Democrat legislature. He also has raised expectations that he's going to somehow see to it that taxes can be controlled, and yet the budget mess, which is a huge budget mess, can be controlled also, in a state where just about everything is really decided by proposition.

They have this form of government which dates back about 92 years. It's where the recall movement began, which also allows this direct democracy, which was not what the founders of the United States in the Constitution envisioned. They envisioned something of a representative democracy, where the people who they elected would go in finite terms and then do their job.

What you had in California was a polite, even though raucous, revolution.

COSTELLO: Yes. Well, we'll see what happens. Bob Franken reporting live from Los Angeles.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.