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Gray Davis Recall Vote Set For October 7

Aired July 24, 2003 - 15:20   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The effort to recall California Governor Gray Davis has moved with lightning speed in recent days. A short time ago, the lieutenant governor of California said the special election will, in fact, be held October 7. And just yesterday, the secretary of state announced enough voter signatures had been collected to force a vote.
With me now from Washington to talk more about all of this is our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider -- hello, Bill.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Hello, Miles. It's going fast.

O'BRIEN: I should say.

SCHNEIDER: Yes.

The special election is now going to be held October the 7th, which is what a lot of Republicans wanted, because this is a special election in which they can count on Davis haters to come out and vote. Democrats are worried that their supporters might not come out and save Gray Davis. So he is in a last-ditch campaign in the next 76 days to save his job.

O'BRIEN: Interesting phenomenon when you look at the way California voters operate. It's governance by initiative there, isn't it?

SCHNEIDER: Well, it really is. And this is an especially bizarre process. It could have been written by the Marx brothers, because you're going to have two votes on October the 7th.

In the first vote, the voters of California who show up are going to decide, yes or no, do they want to recall Davis. And then everyone who votes, including those who vote to keep Davis, get a second choice, which is, who do you want to replace him, even if you vote to keep him. And how do you get on that second ballot? Well, what you need to do in the next little over two weeks, if you want to run, you've got to come up with 65 signatures. That's 65 signatures. I mean, my gosh, Miles, you, I, we have 65 friends. We could run -- and $3,500.

O'BRIEN: I'm hereby announcing my candidacy.

SCHNEIDER: That's right.

O'BRIEN: Except I'm have to move, I guess. It amazing how quickly -- and it almost makes a mockery of the system, I suppose, looking at it from the outside. Is it on the edge of complete mayhem?

SCHNEIDER: Well, I wouldn't say that, but I'd say it's a process they've never gone through before, and so there's a lot of feeling their way around.

The problem is, there are no primaries. There's no runoff. So any number of people can get on the ballot. And whoever gets the most votes wins and takes over immediately if Davis is recalled. So it's kind of a leap into the unknown. And believe me, Davis is going to play off that by saying: I not might not be any great shakes, but I'll tell you something. You don't know what you're going to get if this recall goes through.

O'BRIEN: All right, so, obviously, Schwarzenegger keeps coming up. Only in California, right? I guess Arnold Schwarzenegger is one name, but there are others. Who's on the short list of those who might replace Gray Davis?

SCHNEIDER: Well, the short list is getting longer. There are only two declared candidates right now: Darrell Issa, who paid for the recall petitions, over $1 million. He says -- he's a Republican congressman. He says he's going to run. But very few people in California know who he is. And the former Green Party candidate for governor, Peter Camejo, got 5 percent of the vote last year.

Others, you've talked about Arnold Schwarzenegger. Everyone wants to see if his wife will let him run, the Terminator. There's another candidate, Dick Riordan, the former mayor of Los Angeles, Republican. He lost the primary last year to Bill Simon. Simon beat Riordan in the primary. And Simon was beaten by Davis in the general election. Both Simon or Riordan, either Simon or Riordan, could run.

A lot of Republicans are thinking about it: Tom McClintock, a California state senator, a conservative figure. Democrats are so far saying that they have no intention of running. And they're holding ranks. And the national Democratic chairman went out to California last week and said, the Democratic Party will be solid. They'll be behind Gray Davis. No Democrat is going to run. But you know what?

If the polls show in the next two weeks that Davis is slipping and he could be recalled, you'd better watch. Some Democrats may say: You know, we're going to rethink that.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Bill Schneider, our senior political analyst, thank you so much for being with us.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

O'BRIEN: And shedding light on what is a confusing situation in California.

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 July 24, 2003 - 15:20   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The effort to recall California Governor Gray Davis has moved with lightning speed in recent days. A short time ago, the lieutenant governor of California said the special election will, in fact, be held October 7. And just yesterday, the secretary of state announced enough voter signatures had been collected to force a vote.
With me now from Washington to talk more about all of this is our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider -- hello, Bill.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Hello, Miles. It's going fast.

O'BRIEN: I should say.

SCHNEIDER: Yes.

The special election is now going to be held October the 7th, which is what a lot of Republicans wanted, because this is a special election in which they can count on Davis haters to come out and vote. Democrats are worried that their supporters might not come out and save Gray Davis. So he is in a last-ditch campaign in the next 76 days to save his job.

O'BRIEN: Interesting phenomenon when you look at the way California voters operate. It's governance by initiative there, isn't it?

SCHNEIDER: Well, it really is. And this is an especially bizarre process. It could have been written by the Marx brothers, because you're going to have two votes on October the 7th.

In the first vote, the voters of California who show up are going to decide, yes or no, do they want to recall Davis. And then everyone who votes, including those who vote to keep Davis, get a second choice, which is, who do you want to replace him, even if you vote to keep him. And how do you get on that second ballot? Well, what you need to do in the next little over two weeks, if you want to run, you've got to come up with 65 signatures. That's 65 signatures. I mean, my gosh, Miles, you, I, we have 65 friends. We could run -- and $3,500.

O'BRIEN: I'm hereby announcing my candidacy.

SCHNEIDER: That's right.

O'BRIEN: Except I'm have to move, I guess. It amazing how quickly -- and it almost makes a mockery of the system, I suppose, looking at it from the outside. Is it on the edge of complete mayhem?

SCHNEIDER: Well, I wouldn't say that, but I'd say it's a process they've never gone through before, and so there's a lot of feeling their way around.

The problem is, there are no primaries. There's no runoff. So any number of people can get on the ballot. And whoever gets the most votes wins and takes over immediately if Davis is recalled. So it's kind of a leap into the unknown. And believe me, Davis is going to play off that by saying: I not might not be any great shakes, but I'll tell you something. You don't know what you're going to get if this recall goes through.

O'BRIEN: All right, so, obviously, Schwarzenegger keeps coming up. Only in California, right? I guess Arnold Schwarzenegger is one name, but there are others. Who's on the short list of those who might replace Gray Davis?

SCHNEIDER: Well, the short list is getting longer. There are only two declared candidates right now: Darrell Issa, who paid for the recall petitions, over $1 million. He says -- he's a Republican congressman. He says he's going to run. But very few people in California know who he is. And the former Green Party candidate for governor, Peter Camejo, got 5 percent of the vote last year.

Others, you've talked about Arnold Schwarzenegger. Everyone wants to see if his wife will let him run, the Terminator. There's another candidate, Dick Riordan, the former mayor of Los Angeles, Republican. He lost the primary last year to Bill Simon. Simon beat Riordan in the primary. And Simon was beaten by Davis in the general election. Both Simon or Riordan, either Simon or Riordan, could run.

A lot of Republicans are thinking about it: Tom McClintock, a California state senator, a conservative figure. Democrats are so far saying that they have no intention of running. And they're holding ranks. And the national Democratic chairman went out to California last week and said, the Democratic Party will be solid. They'll be behind Gray Davis. No Democrat is going to run. But you know what?

If the polls show in the next two weeks that Davis is slipping and he could be recalled, you'd better watch. Some Democrats may say: You know, we're going to rethink that.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Bill Schneider, our senior political analyst, thank you so much for being with us.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

O'BRIEN: And shedding light on what is a confusing situation in California.

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