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CNN Live Saturday
Voter Turnout Will Play Major Role In Recall Race
Aired August 30, 2003 - 18:17 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: Voter turnout could also play a major role in the recall race. Let's talk about that with Terence Samuel. He is the Chief Congressional Correspondent for "U.S. News and World Report" in Washington.
Well, Mr. Samuel, we saw again this week a lot of attention focused on Arnold Schwarzenegger but it wasn't his movie successes of Hollywood but, rather, his past that came to haunt him you could say. How did the Schwarzenegger camp handle this?
TERENCE SAMUEL, "U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT": Well, you know, this is suddenly a campaign, not the first few weeks of when we talked about bikini waxes and standup. Suddenly, it's very serious.
You know they had to know that this was coming. You know it wasn't that this was a secret. He's basically said that he's not going to talk about that stuff. He admitted that he said some "ludicrous, crazy things" and he tried to move on. It's not going to go away. He's answered some questions but as this thing showed this is going to be five weeks of very tough questions for Schwarzenegger.
KOPPEL: We also saw with the Democratic frontrunner Gray Davis - well, actually, he's not necessarily the frontrunner. He is the existing governor.
SAMUEL: Yes.
KOPPEL: But we saw that he was out there really on the stump looking very gubernatorial, is this the Davis camp's strategy right now for the next five weeks, just get out there and do as many political events as possible?
SAMUEL: You know this whole recall business is basically government by temper tantrum and I think what the Davis strategy is, is to show people that he's in charge, that he's calm and maybe hopefully calm people down and say you don't necessarily need to be so mad at me, though I understand why you have been.
This is going to turn on angry people who are mad at the system as embodied by Gray Davis versus people who are angry at the people who initiated this recall for abusing the system and that ultimately may determine the turnout on October 7th.
KOPPEL: How effective do you think that strategy is?
SAMUEL: You know, it's - I keep thinking on this recall business could you believe that this is before Labor Day? We don't know is what I'm saying, you know. I say two or three more weeks when all that money that we talked about before starts getting spent on television we'll have a better sense of who's actually getting their message out.
KOPPEL: Have we seen any positions change? We've certainly seen more of the candidates like Arnold Schwarzenegger, like even the lieutenant governor who had been in the shadow for so many years of Gray Davis but have we seen anything that was surprising?
SAMUEL: Well, there were a few polls this week that showed Bustamante with double-digit leads over Schwarzenegger and I think that surprised a lot of people even though there are, you know, the 16 percent of Hispanic voters in California will make a huge difference and they may turn out for Bustamante with a prospect of electing the first Hispanic governor.
In terms of positions changing, I guess, you know, Mr. Schwarzenegger going from Independent to Republican over a couple of days was a slight surprise and somewhat amusing.
KOPPEL: Any prediction as to what we can expect in the next five weeks?
SAMUEL: Craziness, a lot of money being spent, and I think it will be interesting to see what happens when the rest of the political apparatus is back in place.
You know the president is back at the White House. Congress comes back next week and I think when parties on both sides start weighing in, it will be interesting to see what happens. I think we're going to have an intense five weeks between now and then.
KOPPEL: And, I think that if I were a betting person I'd put money on that. Thank you so much Terence Samuel for joining us tonight from Washington.
SAMUEL: Thanks for having me.
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 30, 2003 - 18:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Voter turnout could also play a major role in the recall race. Let's talk about that with Terence Samuel. He is the Chief Congressional Correspondent for "U.S. News and World Report" in Washington.
Well, Mr. Samuel, we saw again this week a lot of attention focused on Arnold Schwarzenegger but it wasn't his movie successes of Hollywood but, rather, his past that came to haunt him you could say. How did the Schwarzenegger camp handle this?
TERENCE SAMUEL, "U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT": Well, you know, this is suddenly a campaign, not the first few weeks of when we talked about bikini waxes and standup. Suddenly, it's very serious.
You know they had to know that this was coming. You know it wasn't that this was a secret. He's basically said that he's not going to talk about that stuff. He admitted that he said some "ludicrous, crazy things" and he tried to move on. It's not going to go away. He's answered some questions but as this thing showed this is going to be five weeks of very tough questions for Schwarzenegger.
KOPPEL: We also saw with the Democratic frontrunner Gray Davis - well, actually, he's not necessarily the frontrunner. He is the existing governor.
SAMUEL: Yes.
KOPPEL: But we saw that he was out there really on the stump looking very gubernatorial, is this the Davis camp's strategy right now for the next five weeks, just get out there and do as many political events as possible?
SAMUEL: You know this whole recall business is basically government by temper tantrum and I think what the Davis strategy is, is to show people that he's in charge, that he's calm and maybe hopefully calm people down and say you don't necessarily need to be so mad at me, though I understand why you have been.
This is going to turn on angry people who are mad at the system as embodied by Gray Davis versus people who are angry at the people who initiated this recall for abusing the system and that ultimately may determine the turnout on October 7th.
KOPPEL: How effective do you think that strategy is?
SAMUEL: You know, it's - I keep thinking on this recall business could you believe that this is before Labor Day? We don't know is what I'm saying, you know. I say two or three more weeks when all that money that we talked about before starts getting spent on television we'll have a better sense of who's actually getting their message out.
KOPPEL: Have we seen any positions change? We've certainly seen more of the candidates like Arnold Schwarzenegger, like even the lieutenant governor who had been in the shadow for so many years of Gray Davis but have we seen anything that was surprising?
SAMUEL: Well, there were a few polls this week that showed Bustamante with double-digit leads over Schwarzenegger and I think that surprised a lot of people even though there are, you know, the 16 percent of Hispanic voters in California will make a huge difference and they may turn out for Bustamante with a prospect of electing the first Hispanic governor.
In terms of positions changing, I guess, you know, Mr. Schwarzenegger going from Independent to Republican over a couple of days was a slight surprise and somewhat amusing.
KOPPEL: Any prediction as to what we can expect in the next five weeks?
SAMUEL: Craziness, a lot of money being spent, and I think it will be interesting to see what happens when the rest of the political apparatus is back in place.
You know the president is back at the White House. Congress comes back next week and I think when parties on both sides start weighing in, it will be interesting to see what happens. I think we're going to have an intense five weeks between now and then.
KOPPEL: And, I think that if I were a betting person I'd put money on that. Thank you so much Terence Samuel for joining us tonight from Washington.
SAMUEL: Thanks for having me.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
