Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
California Carnival
Aired August 07, 2003 - 13:45 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: Let's get back to California politics, shall we. And I almost feel like we should cue that Kaliapy (ph) music here, come one, come all to see the carnival that is California politics right now. With Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gary Coleman -- yes, Gary Coleman, "Different Strokes" Gary Coleman -- running for governor. And apparently the comedian Gallagher is contemplating tossing his sledgomatic (ph) into the ring. Now that would be very entertain in a debate, wouldn't it, to have Gallagher there? It seems the only person not in the race, Mini Me. But there's still time. Here to help us make sense, Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political scientist with the University of Southern California.
Sherry, good to have you with us.
SHERRY BEBITCH JEFFE, POLITICAL SCIENTISTS: Thank you. You're being very nasty to us today, and this is just about the first time I can't argue back at you.
O'BRIEN: I feel bad. I feel very -- like it's not fair to pick on you. But it's hard to defend, isn't it?
JEFFE: It hasn't been before, but you're not going to get an argument from me.
O'BRIEN: So let's try and get a sense of what's at the root of all this. I have a feeling California politics has kind become over the years a referendum run amok. And this is a natural outgrowth of all of that, that they would have a referendum on recalling the governor, like his warranty might expire any day now.
JEFFE: Well, quite frankly, the recall's been on the books since 1911. It was one of those vaunted, progressive reforms, along with the initiative process. And there have been 31 previous attempts to recall a governor. There was one that got a little bit of speed up in 1968 against Ronald Reagan.
But none of them ever made the ballot, you know. To use an overused cliche, this has been a perfect storm. An unloved governor who doesn't take proactive leadership, who hasn't reached out to legislators of his own party, let alone Republicans, an energy crisis for which the voters still blame this governor, a budget deficit, a tanking economy, and $1.7 million poured into qualifying the recall by Congressman Issa, and there you have it.
O'BRIEN: It's an interesting recipe, isn't it?
JEFFE: Yes. O'BRIEN: And when you put that all together, it seems unlikely that's going to repeat itself anytime soon. So I guess one question we can probably put off to the side here, is whether the system has broken out there. There won't be any big changes in the way California politics is conducted after this necessarily.
JEFFE: I don't think there will be, because the voters are not dissatisfied with the system as of yet. Many argue yes, the system is broken. But this is -- you know, this is the first in history that we've ever seen, the statewide recall. We've got to take a look at how it plays out. And I'm here to tell you, Angeline, for example, our L.A. billboard diva who has taken out papers, has run before. She ran for a seat on the Hollywood city council. She lost. But nonetheless, I think this may well be an aberration, and we need to see it through before we start throwing up our hands in disgust, although it's kind of fun to do it now.
O'BRIEN: I thought it was just her necklines that were succeeding. Let's talk a little bit about Schwarzenegger, because that's what we all watched last night. And a bit of a surprise there. He did a good job kind of playing the expectation game there.
He may be a popular Hollywood character, but that does not always translate well on to the political stump. What's the key to making that transition for him, do you think?
JEFFE: I think he began last night, by quickly bringing up the possibility that the Davis campaign will make accusations about his personal behavior. He even used the word "womanizing." He's begun to inoculate himself against attacks on that level.
And quite frankly, with a six-week campaign, he's not going to have to get himself in this point of time too conversant with the details of governing. He's a solid policy person on the issue of education. I suspect that's what he will stress.
We're used to actors running and winning in politics -- Ronald Reagan, George Murphy in the United States Senate, Clint Eastwood as mayor of Carmel. If they do a good job, voters look at them and judge them on that. If they do a bad job, voters look at them individually and judge them on that. Remember, show business around here basically is the town's industry. It's a job.
O'BRIEN: It's a job, yes. And so politics, I guess, then is for what...
JEFFE: An extension --
O'BRIEN: An extension of all of that. There you go. You said it, not me.
JEFFE: Well, it is. You've heard time and time again that Washington is Hollywood for ugly people. But I don't know we can call Arnold ugly. But nonetheless, these are people that are around us. And anybody from any other career can certainly decide to pull papers, so should actors. The Gary Coleman thing is interesting. He's actually being sponsored by an alternative paper called the "East Bay Express," who decided he deserved to run and is paying his filing fee. And if you listen to what the paper says, there's a little bit of cruelty involved in that that I'm not very happy about.
O'BRIEN: Yes, that's not good. Well, I'll tell you what, while we're talking here, Kyra, I found on the web one of the potential gubernatorial candidates. There's Angeline.
JEFFE: There's our billboard diva. I love her slogan. She has been known to say we've had a gray, we've had a brown, now it's time for a little pink.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, and she drives a pink Corvette, right? I've seen her cruising Sunset Boulevard in a pink corvette.
JEFFE: She dresses a pink Corvette, she dresses in pink, and she has a pink poodle.
O'BRIEN: Looks like she's got her own build-in point/counterpoint there, if you know what I mean.
JEFFE: Stop it, miles.
O'BRIEN: I've got to stop it, I'm sorry, Miles, but you got to admit...
JEFFE: Oh, Arnold has pecs, doesn't he?
PHILLIPS: That's a good point.
O'BRIEN: Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, Always a pleasure to have you drop by.
JEFFE: My pleasure.
PHILLIPS: She's talking pecs.
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 7, 2003 - 13:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get back to California politics, shall we. And I almost feel like we should cue that Kaliapy (ph) music here, come one, come all to see the carnival that is California politics right now. With Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gary Coleman -- yes, Gary Coleman, "Different Strokes" Gary Coleman -- running for governor. And apparently the comedian Gallagher is contemplating tossing his sledgomatic (ph) into the ring. Now that would be very entertain in a debate, wouldn't it, to have Gallagher there? It seems the only person not in the race, Mini Me. But there's still time. Here to help us make sense, Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political scientist with the University of Southern California.
Sherry, good to have you with us.
SHERRY BEBITCH JEFFE, POLITICAL SCIENTISTS: Thank you. You're being very nasty to us today, and this is just about the first time I can't argue back at you.
O'BRIEN: I feel bad. I feel very -- like it's not fair to pick on you. But it's hard to defend, isn't it?
JEFFE: It hasn't been before, but you're not going to get an argument from me.
O'BRIEN: So let's try and get a sense of what's at the root of all this. I have a feeling California politics has kind become over the years a referendum run amok. And this is a natural outgrowth of all of that, that they would have a referendum on recalling the governor, like his warranty might expire any day now.
JEFFE: Well, quite frankly, the recall's been on the books since 1911. It was one of those vaunted, progressive reforms, along with the initiative process. And there have been 31 previous attempts to recall a governor. There was one that got a little bit of speed up in 1968 against Ronald Reagan.
But none of them ever made the ballot, you know. To use an overused cliche, this has been a perfect storm. An unloved governor who doesn't take proactive leadership, who hasn't reached out to legislators of his own party, let alone Republicans, an energy crisis for which the voters still blame this governor, a budget deficit, a tanking economy, and $1.7 million poured into qualifying the recall by Congressman Issa, and there you have it.
O'BRIEN: It's an interesting recipe, isn't it?
JEFFE: Yes. O'BRIEN: And when you put that all together, it seems unlikely that's going to repeat itself anytime soon. So I guess one question we can probably put off to the side here, is whether the system has broken out there. There won't be any big changes in the way California politics is conducted after this necessarily.
JEFFE: I don't think there will be, because the voters are not dissatisfied with the system as of yet. Many argue yes, the system is broken. But this is -- you know, this is the first in history that we've ever seen, the statewide recall. We've got to take a look at how it plays out. And I'm here to tell you, Angeline, for example, our L.A. billboard diva who has taken out papers, has run before. She ran for a seat on the Hollywood city council. She lost. But nonetheless, I think this may well be an aberration, and we need to see it through before we start throwing up our hands in disgust, although it's kind of fun to do it now.
O'BRIEN: I thought it was just her necklines that were succeeding. Let's talk a little bit about Schwarzenegger, because that's what we all watched last night. And a bit of a surprise there. He did a good job kind of playing the expectation game there.
He may be a popular Hollywood character, but that does not always translate well on to the political stump. What's the key to making that transition for him, do you think?
JEFFE: I think he began last night, by quickly bringing up the possibility that the Davis campaign will make accusations about his personal behavior. He even used the word "womanizing." He's begun to inoculate himself against attacks on that level.
And quite frankly, with a six-week campaign, he's not going to have to get himself in this point of time too conversant with the details of governing. He's a solid policy person on the issue of education. I suspect that's what he will stress.
We're used to actors running and winning in politics -- Ronald Reagan, George Murphy in the United States Senate, Clint Eastwood as mayor of Carmel. If they do a good job, voters look at them and judge them on that. If they do a bad job, voters look at them individually and judge them on that. Remember, show business around here basically is the town's industry. It's a job.
O'BRIEN: It's a job, yes. And so politics, I guess, then is for what...
JEFFE: An extension --
O'BRIEN: An extension of all of that. There you go. You said it, not me.
JEFFE: Well, it is. You've heard time and time again that Washington is Hollywood for ugly people. But I don't know we can call Arnold ugly. But nonetheless, these are people that are around us. And anybody from any other career can certainly decide to pull papers, so should actors. The Gary Coleman thing is interesting. He's actually being sponsored by an alternative paper called the "East Bay Express," who decided he deserved to run and is paying his filing fee. And if you listen to what the paper says, there's a little bit of cruelty involved in that that I'm not very happy about.
O'BRIEN: Yes, that's not good. Well, I'll tell you what, while we're talking here, Kyra, I found on the web one of the potential gubernatorial candidates. There's Angeline.
JEFFE: There's our billboard diva. I love her slogan. She has been known to say we've had a gray, we've had a brown, now it's time for a little pink.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, and she drives a pink Corvette, right? I've seen her cruising Sunset Boulevard in a pink corvette.
JEFFE: She dresses a pink Corvette, she dresses in pink, and she has a pink poodle.
O'BRIEN: Looks like she's got her own build-in point/counterpoint there, if you know what I mean.
JEFFE: Stop it, miles.
O'BRIEN: I've got to stop it, I'm sorry, Miles, but you got to admit...
JEFFE: Oh, Arnold has pecs, doesn't he?
PHILLIPS: That's a good point.
O'BRIEN: Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, Always a pleasure to have you drop by.
JEFFE: My pleasure.
PHILLIPS: She's talking pecs.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
