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Court to Reconsider California Recall Delay

Aired September 19, 2003 - 15:01   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.


CANDY CROWLEY, CNN ANCHOR: About an hour ago, another shoe dropped in the California recall. A federal appeals court decided it will reconsider the ruling that put the October 7 vote on hold.
All over this story is CNN's Bob Franken, who's going to explain it all to us -- Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How many shoes do we have left, Candy? Because another one just dropped. And that is, the composition of the judges, the 11-judge panel, that will hear this case.

And, by the way you should pull out your calendar right now and set aside 1:00 p.m. Eastern on Monday -- excuse me, 1:00 p.m. Pacific, which is 4:00 p.m. Eastern Monday in San Francisco, headquarters of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. And the 11-judge panel includes eight Democrats and three Republicans, seven appointed by President Bill Clinton, one appointed by former President Jimmy Carter, two by Ronald Reagan and one by George Bush I. So, it is an 8-3 panel.

And the Republicans, of course, are already going to be talking about the problems that they have with that. Of course, this is going to be a rehearing of the three-judge panel, the three judges being all Democrats, who Monday ruled that the election must be stopped. They gave until next week before they were going to put that into effect.

But, of course, by the time the court hears this on Monday, it will be just two weeks and a day until the election is scheduled to be held on October 7. But, anyway, the judges have been chosen. They were chosen by lottery, Candy. And the reactions are already beginning to start, including one from Governor Gray Davis, who most feel would have the most to gain by a delay. But now he's taking the position that he doesn't want a delay.

Governor Gray Davis, as a matter of fact, was quoted as saying, let's just have this election on October 7, put this recall behind us, so we can get on with governing in the state of California. As I said, most of the experts believe that, if there is a delay, it would benefit him as much as anybody. But, of course, just about out all the conventional wisdom has been tossed out the window from the beginning of this, Candy.

CROWLEY: Bob, am I right to think, no matter what happens in the 9th Circuit Court, that this ends up in the Supreme Court?

FRANKEN: Well, you're right to believe that there will be attempts to put it into the Supreme Court. Whoever loses on the appeal will make a stab, we have been told, to go to the Supreme Court. But will the Supreme Court accept it? There is a real wide body of opinion in the legal community that the very last thing the Supreme Court really wants to do is to get enmeshed in another political hot potato like Bush v. Gore.

Of course, as we know, Al Gore is in the state told to remind people that that particular ruling is the one that's having a huge influence over what the final decision will be here.

CROWLEY: Thanks very much, Bob Franken.

Speaking of that, while the 9th Circuit court was deciding to revisit ballot questions raised by the last presidential vote, Al Gore was indeed here helping Governor Gray Davis recall 2000 themes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY (voice-over): Gore appeared with Davis at a voter registration drive. He's the latest national Democrat to help Davis fight the recall and try to rally African-American votes. Gore's message, don't let California be Florida.

AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And those who tell you that there's no difference between candidates, there's no difference between the kind of governance that you have now and what would happen if this other crowd got in place, let me tell you, that's what they said to a lot of people in 2000.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY: Gore and Davis also plan to appear later today in San Francisco.

Meantime, there's a new and unlikely recall tag team stirring things up. Democrat Cruz Bustamante and Republican Tom McClintock have agreed to boycott next week's debate unless the sponsors scrap their plan to have the gubernatorial candidates answer questions they have received in advance. Many contend it's no coincidence that's the debate that Arnold Schwarzenegger has agreed to attend.

Bustamante and McClintock are urging Schwarzenegger and the other leading candidates to boycott the debate, too. At last word, Schwarzenegger said he still planned to appear. And the debate sponsors say they will not change the format.

We want to bring in now Congressman David Dreier, an adviser to the Schwarzenegger campaign, a Republican from California. But, at the moment, he is in Washington.

(CROSSTALK)

REP. DAVID DREIER (R), CALIFORNIA: You've missed some weather back here, Candy.

CROWLEY: Yes, I know I did. I've been watching. Thanks, Congressman. Listen, what are you going to do about this? Because here's the bottom line. The bottom line is that they are framing Arnold Schwarzenegger as someone incapable of answering questions on the fly.

DREIER: Yes, it's just silly.

Debates are really not about a lot of detail, although Arnold has clearly come forward with a lot of detail. They're really about the vision and the direction in which one wants to state in this case. And he's clearly offered that, getting into lots of details, as I said, about many different issues. Arnold asked me to negotiate the debates for him just a few days after he announced the candidacy.

And I was deluged. Larry King called many times. We had Tim Russert and Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings all just deluging us with requests. We got more than a dozen requests. And so we sat down and made a determination that the California Broadcasters Association would in fact be the best operation to do this. I requested that the questions not be placed in advance.

I will say -- I'm going to say that again, because I've heard so many candidates out there saying this is why we chose this debate. That's absolutely preposterous. We have requested that the questions not be provided in advance. But I will tell you that the fact that they are being provided in advance is not necessarily a negative thing.

I've had the privilege of co-captaining Oxford-style debates here on the floor of the Congress, and we have the question in advance. This debate will, unlike the other debates, Candy, allow for a free exchange, an opportunity for people to focus on this. And other the candidates, all decent people, are really grasping for straws.

(CROSSTALK)

CROWLEY: I take the point, but why not sort of get rid of this image that this is not a man who is ready for prime time? Put him in another debate where he doesn't know what's going to take place.

DREIER: Candy, he is debating every single day. He's taken a wide range of questions. If you look at debates in the past, that was about the only forum that people could utilize. Now we have television. The night before last, Arnold did a phenomenal job on Larry King's program. He's been on virtually all of the other networks.

He's had these ask-Arnold meetings, where, totally unscripted, for an hour, he takes question about details and his vision. And that is exactly what is going to happen Wednesday night. There will be the questions provided. But, obviously, the candidates will have an opportunity to engage in a full exchange. And, you know, again, it's happening with regularity.

We're proceeding as if the election is going ahead. Arnold is ahead. In our internal polling, Candy, he continues to hold a good lead over both Bustamante and McClintock and Huffington and Camejo and the other candidates. And so where we are right now is, is there are candidates who are seeking to attack Arnold. And this is the only thing they can attack him on. He's been substantive, strong. He's a great leader. And I think he's going to be wonderful for the state.

And people are involved in this process, Candy, who have never been out there before, never voted before, and they're coming in droves to support Arnold.

CROWLEY: Al Gore, Congressman, taking the point, you know politics is an awful lot about image. It's an awful lot about smokescreens, as Tip O'Neill once said. And the image is out there that maybe he's not ready. And there is some thought that's what's causing people to rethink this recall and why Gray Davis' numbers are going up. Do you agree with that?

DREIER: No, not at all.

The night before last, Candy, Gray Davis basically admitted a failure, when he said his leadership style, being tied to lobbyists and all, in fact, was a mistake. And so he's basically admitted to failure. Our internal polls shows, by about a 10-point-plus margin, this recall is moving ahead and Gray Davis is going to be recalled.

But the thing that's really happened here is, again, they're looking for something to attack this front-runner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and this is the only thing they have got. And, again, it's a specious argument, because we have this guy out there. I mean, at his core, he has very, very strong feelings about the view, the vision that he has for the state of California.

And I will tell you, I've spent time with him. I've talked with him in detail about a lot of issues. He's come forward with a couple proposals on redistricting just over the past couple of days that he's going to be talking about. He wants to clean up Sacramento. He wants to bring an end to the kind of policies that Gray Davis and Bustamante had thrust on the people of California. And I think Californians want to do that.

CROWLEY: Congressman, I think he ought to put you on the debate team with him.

Thank so much, Congressman Dreier.

(CROSSTALK)

DREIER: Always good to see you, Candy. Say hi to Howie.

(CROSSTALK)

CROWLEY: We appreciate it. OK.

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 September 19, 2003 - 15:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN ANCHOR: About an hour ago, another shoe dropped in the California recall. A federal appeals court decided it will reconsider the ruling that put the October 7 vote on hold.
All over this story is CNN's Bob Franken, who's going to explain it all to us -- Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How many shoes do we have left, Candy? Because another one just dropped. And that is, the composition of the judges, the 11-judge panel, that will hear this case.

And, by the way you should pull out your calendar right now and set aside 1:00 p.m. Eastern on Monday -- excuse me, 1:00 p.m. Pacific, which is 4:00 p.m. Eastern Monday in San Francisco, headquarters of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. And the 11-judge panel includes eight Democrats and three Republicans, seven appointed by President Bill Clinton, one appointed by former President Jimmy Carter, two by Ronald Reagan and one by George Bush I. So, it is an 8-3 panel.

And the Republicans, of course, are already going to be talking about the problems that they have with that. Of course, this is going to be a rehearing of the three-judge panel, the three judges being all Democrats, who Monday ruled that the election must be stopped. They gave until next week before they were going to put that into effect.

But, of course, by the time the court hears this on Monday, it will be just two weeks and a day until the election is scheduled to be held on October 7. But, anyway, the judges have been chosen. They were chosen by lottery, Candy. And the reactions are already beginning to start, including one from Governor Gray Davis, who most feel would have the most to gain by a delay. But now he's taking the position that he doesn't want a delay.

Governor Gray Davis, as a matter of fact, was quoted as saying, let's just have this election on October 7, put this recall behind us, so we can get on with governing in the state of California. As I said, most of the experts believe that, if there is a delay, it would benefit him as much as anybody. But, of course, just about out all the conventional wisdom has been tossed out the window from the beginning of this, Candy.

CROWLEY: Bob, am I right to think, no matter what happens in the 9th Circuit Court, that this ends up in the Supreme Court?

FRANKEN: Well, you're right to believe that there will be attempts to put it into the Supreme Court. Whoever loses on the appeal will make a stab, we have been told, to go to the Supreme Court. But will the Supreme Court accept it? There is a real wide body of opinion in the legal community that the very last thing the Supreme Court really wants to do is to get enmeshed in another political hot potato like Bush v. Gore.

Of course, as we know, Al Gore is in the state told to remind people that that particular ruling is the one that's having a huge influence over what the final decision will be here.

CROWLEY: Thanks very much, Bob Franken.

Speaking of that, while the 9th Circuit court was deciding to revisit ballot questions raised by the last presidential vote, Al Gore was indeed here helping Governor Gray Davis recall 2000 themes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY (voice-over): Gore appeared with Davis at a voter registration drive. He's the latest national Democrat to help Davis fight the recall and try to rally African-American votes. Gore's message, don't let California be Florida.

AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And those who tell you that there's no difference between candidates, there's no difference between the kind of governance that you have now and what would happen if this other crowd got in place, let me tell you, that's what they said to a lot of people in 2000.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY: Gore and Davis also plan to appear later today in San Francisco.

Meantime, there's a new and unlikely recall tag team stirring things up. Democrat Cruz Bustamante and Republican Tom McClintock have agreed to boycott next week's debate unless the sponsors scrap their plan to have the gubernatorial candidates answer questions they have received in advance. Many contend it's no coincidence that's the debate that Arnold Schwarzenegger has agreed to attend.

Bustamante and McClintock are urging Schwarzenegger and the other leading candidates to boycott the debate, too. At last word, Schwarzenegger said he still planned to appear. And the debate sponsors say they will not change the format.

We want to bring in now Congressman David Dreier, an adviser to the Schwarzenegger campaign, a Republican from California. But, at the moment, he is in Washington.

(CROSSTALK)

REP. DAVID DREIER (R), CALIFORNIA: You've missed some weather back here, Candy.

CROWLEY: Yes, I know I did. I've been watching. Thanks, Congressman. Listen, what are you going to do about this? Because here's the bottom line. The bottom line is that they are framing Arnold Schwarzenegger as someone incapable of answering questions on the fly.

DREIER: Yes, it's just silly.

Debates are really not about a lot of detail, although Arnold has clearly come forward with a lot of detail. They're really about the vision and the direction in which one wants to state in this case. And he's clearly offered that, getting into lots of details, as I said, about many different issues. Arnold asked me to negotiate the debates for him just a few days after he announced the candidacy.

And I was deluged. Larry King called many times. We had Tim Russert and Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings all just deluging us with requests. We got more than a dozen requests. And so we sat down and made a determination that the California Broadcasters Association would in fact be the best operation to do this. I requested that the questions not be placed in advance.

I will say -- I'm going to say that again, because I've heard so many candidates out there saying this is why we chose this debate. That's absolutely preposterous. We have requested that the questions not be provided in advance. But I will tell you that the fact that they are being provided in advance is not necessarily a negative thing.

I've had the privilege of co-captaining Oxford-style debates here on the floor of the Congress, and we have the question in advance. This debate will, unlike the other debates, Candy, allow for a free exchange, an opportunity for people to focus on this. And other the candidates, all decent people, are really grasping for straws.

(CROSSTALK)

CROWLEY: I take the point, but why not sort of get rid of this image that this is not a man who is ready for prime time? Put him in another debate where he doesn't know what's going to take place.

DREIER: Candy, he is debating every single day. He's taken a wide range of questions. If you look at debates in the past, that was about the only forum that people could utilize. Now we have television. The night before last, Arnold did a phenomenal job on Larry King's program. He's been on virtually all of the other networks.

He's had these ask-Arnold meetings, where, totally unscripted, for an hour, he takes question about details and his vision. And that is exactly what is going to happen Wednesday night. There will be the questions provided. But, obviously, the candidates will have an opportunity to engage in a full exchange. And, you know, again, it's happening with regularity.

We're proceeding as if the election is going ahead. Arnold is ahead. In our internal polling, Candy, he continues to hold a good lead over both Bustamante and McClintock and Huffington and Camejo and the other candidates. And so where we are right now is, is there are candidates who are seeking to attack Arnold. And this is the only thing they can attack him on. He's been substantive, strong. He's a great leader. And I think he's going to be wonderful for the state.

And people are involved in this process, Candy, who have never been out there before, never voted before, and they're coming in droves to support Arnold.

CROWLEY: Al Gore, Congressman, taking the point, you know politics is an awful lot about image. It's an awful lot about smokescreens, as Tip O'Neill once said. And the image is out there that maybe he's not ready. And there is some thought that's what's causing people to rethink this recall and why Gray Davis' numbers are going up. Do you agree with that?

DREIER: No, not at all.

The night before last, Candy, Gray Davis basically admitted a failure, when he said his leadership style, being tied to lobbyists and all, in fact, was a mistake. And so he's basically admitted to failure. Our internal polls shows, by about a 10-point-plus margin, this recall is moving ahead and Gray Davis is going to be recalled.

But the thing that's really happened here is, again, they're looking for something to attack this front-runner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and this is the only thing they have got. And, again, it's a specious argument, because we have this guy out there. I mean, at his core, he has very, very strong feelings about the view, the vision that he has for the state of California.

And I will tell you, I've spent time with him. I've talked with him in detail about a lot of issues. He's come forward with a couple proposals on redistricting just over the past couple of days that he's going to be talking about. He wants to clean up Sacramento. He wants to bring an end to the kind of policies that Gray Davis and Bustamante had thrust on the people of California. And I think Californians want to do that.

CROWLEY: Congressman, I think he ought to put you on the debate team with him.

Thank so much, Congressman Dreier.

(CROSSTALK)

DREIER: Always good to see you, Candy. Say hi to Howie.

(CROSSTALK)

CROWLEY: We appreciate it. OK.

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