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CNN Live Saturday
Who Will Benefit From Simon's Dropping Out?
Aired August 23, 2003 - 18:09 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.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Our next guest is closely following the recall race. Patt Morrison is a columnist for "The Los Angeles Times" -- she joins us from our L.A. Bureau.
Ms. Morrison, who do you think benefits from the fact that Bill Simon has dropped out?
PATT MORRISON, LOS ANGELES TIMES: Everyone seems to be saying Arnold Schwarzenegger, but I think Tom McClintock, who is an unknown quantity outside of California, is going to reap some of the benefit of this.
Tom has run several statewide campaigns, he's a blue ribbon conservative, and he has the support of that old rock ribbed right, the conservative aspect of the Republican Party that still would rather be right than president, and they rather be right than governor.
KOPPEL: So if Schwarzenegger is to reap the benefits of Bill Simon having dropped out, do Ueberroth and Tom McClintock also have to -- as the two, I guess, leading contenders next to Bill Simon, do they have to drop out as well?
MORRISON: It's beginning to feel like one of those Agatha Christie murder mysteries where you keep finding bodies in different parts of the house and the numbers of the surviving guests keeps dwindling.
Arnold Schwarzenegger will benefit in some fashion from this. Peter Ueberroth is campaigning really more as an Independent than as a Republican and he's been off the scene for a while. I don't think he's going to draw necessarily just Republican votes.
Tom McClintock dropping out of the race which he has said he will not do, would really put the focus front and center on Arnold Schwarzenegger and Republicans really would have nowhere else to go except to Arnold Schwarzenegger.
KOPPEL: There is a new poll out by your paper, the L.A. Times that I guess came out yesterday that shows that 45 percent of Californians surveyed said that they are opposed to the recall. Where did this come from?
MORRISON: I think that we've had the excitement of the engagement and the wedding and even the honeymoon and now we're beginning to look at what married life might be like and people are beginning to think not so much about the candidates. Gray Davis is not a popular man in California, but about the consequences. One thing our poll found is that people were concerned that afterwards that there be some changes in the way recalls are mounted. They're also concerned about whether or not this is going to initiate an era of tit for tat revenge recall and that state government will be stymied by this process.
KOPPEL: Well, something tells me that we're going to be talking about this quite a lot in the weeks ahead. Patt Morrison, thanks for coming in today.
MORRISON: You're welcome, there's no other story here.
KOPPEL: I bet.
Be sure to visit cnn.com for a special report on the battle for California. You'll find in-depth information on the recall, the campaign, and the candidates. The AOL keyword is CNN.
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 August 23, 2003 - 18:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Our next guest is closely following the recall race. Patt Morrison is a columnist for "The Los Angeles Times" -- she joins us from our L.A. Bureau.
Ms. Morrison, who do you think benefits from the fact that Bill Simon has dropped out?
PATT MORRISON, LOS ANGELES TIMES: Everyone seems to be saying Arnold Schwarzenegger, but I think Tom McClintock, who is an unknown quantity outside of California, is going to reap some of the benefit of this.
Tom has run several statewide campaigns, he's a blue ribbon conservative, and he has the support of that old rock ribbed right, the conservative aspect of the Republican Party that still would rather be right than president, and they rather be right than governor.
KOPPEL: So if Schwarzenegger is to reap the benefits of Bill Simon having dropped out, do Ueberroth and Tom McClintock also have to -- as the two, I guess, leading contenders next to Bill Simon, do they have to drop out as well?
MORRISON: It's beginning to feel like one of those Agatha Christie murder mysteries where you keep finding bodies in different parts of the house and the numbers of the surviving guests keeps dwindling.
Arnold Schwarzenegger will benefit in some fashion from this. Peter Ueberroth is campaigning really more as an Independent than as a Republican and he's been off the scene for a while. I don't think he's going to draw necessarily just Republican votes.
Tom McClintock dropping out of the race which he has said he will not do, would really put the focus front and center on Arnold Schwarzenegger and Republicans really would have nowhere else to go except to Arnold Schwarzenegger.
KOPPEL: There is a new poll out by your paper, the L.A. Times that I guess came out yesterday that shows that 45 percent of Californians surveyed said that they are opposed to the recall. Where did this come from?
MORRISON: I think that we've had the excitement of the engagement and the wedding and even the honeymoon and now we're beginning to look at what married life might be like and people are beginning to think not so much about the candidates. Gray Davis is not a popular man in California, but about the consequences. One thing our poll found is that people were concerned that afterwards that there be some changes in the way recalls are mounted. They're also concerned about whether or not this is going to initiate an era of tit for tat revenge recall and that state government will be stymied by this process.
KOPPEL: Well, something tells me that we're going to be talking about this quite a lot in the weeks ahead. Patt Morrison, thanks for coming in today.
MORRISON: You're welcome, there's no other story here.
KOPPEL: I bet.
Be sure to visit cnn.com for a special report on the battle for California. You'll find in-depth information on the recall, the campaign, and the candidates. The AOL keyword is CNN.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
