Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
Home Stretch of California Recall
Aired October 06, 2003 - 13:03 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well it's the home stretch. Just one day left before the recall election in California. The candidates are making the most of the last day of to campaign. Voters will decide whether to replace Governor Gray Davis, and if so, with whom.
A poll conducted last week indicates folks may be having second thought about the recall. As the week wore on, fewer people say that they would definitely vote in favor of it. In just a few minutes we'll check in with CNN's Bob Franken, but now let's begin with Dan Lothian -- Dan.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Governor Gray Davis is very busy today, campaigning. He will begin -- at about two minutes from now he will begin with an event here in Sacramento, the Young Voter's Forum and then the Get Out the Vote rally in Sacramento -- or rather San Francisco and another rally also in Los Angeles. The governor is trying to stay on message in these last few hours before the recall election.
The governor is trying to focus a group of people who have said in polling that they would vote for the recall. These are Democrats, 27 percent or so of Democrats who say they do support the recall. And the governor has said all along that if the voters got a chance to see what was in the background of Arnold Schwarzenegger that they would think twice about voting for this recall.
So today he's out, he's trying to convince that 27 percent of Democrats that they should change their minds and they should go against the recall and keep him in Sacramento. The governor, as I mentioned, has been attacking Arnold Schwarzenegger. He did so throughout the weekend saying these allegations are disturbing. But he also talked on the Larry King show about how his faith has played a major role in the recall battle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GRAY DAVIS (D), CALIFORNIA: I don't like this, I don't think it's fair. But I know people are not interested in my problems. I ask for the privilege of solving their problems and we've solved quite a few. We still have some to go.
But I -- as you know, as we've talked before about this, I am a person of faith and I believe that God doesn't give you more than you can handle. And I carry a little prayer card with me -- I can show you if you like. It's a "Nothing will happen to me today that the Lord and I cannot handle together."
And I believe that this is a test, that I'm meant to go through and that somehow it will all work out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LOTHIAN: In that same interview on Larry King he was joined by his wife. When she was asked whether he felt that Governor Davis would be able to beat this recall vote, she said yes, I fully expect him to win. The governor as well feels that he will be able to pull this off. And so he's going out there again, with his message, trying to let the people of California know that he's the person to repair the problems of the state. Back to you, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Dan Lothian from Sacramento, thank you.
Now to Bob Franken who is following Schwarzenegger's campaign from l.a. -- Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well you know it's interesting, Kyra. The election comes down at the end to the question about Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's just about all about Arnold, people would say. But when you think about it it's been the case pretty much all along.
It is true that the real issue here is whether the governor of California in historic fashion should be recalled but. This has been something of fascination around the world ever since Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy on the Jay Leno show in early August. And throughout this campaign it has really been a question, would Arnold Schwarzenegger become the next governor of California?
In the last days of the campaign last week, he was in fact looking like he was pulling away from the pack, that it looked like the recall would succeed and Arnold Schwarzenegger would get elected. But then came the revelations, the revelations in "The L.A. Times" of accusations from a number of women, that has now grown to 15, that over the decades Schwarzenegger groped them, made unwelcome sexual advances and questions about what he said about Adolf Hitler decades ago.
Those questions have out-dominated the campaign. There have been some polls, but not that have completely covered the area where this has been the controversy and the two camps, of course, are taking internal polls all of the time.
Democratic sources are saying that as a result of all this the sentiment for recall has gone down. As a matter of fact, they say it's a statistical tie where it was going to easily win and Davis was going to lose. They also say that Schwarzenegger has slipped.
Now the Schwarzenegger camp says that, yes, Schwarzenegger has slipped a little bit. But he's still comfortably ahead of the man behind him, Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, and that's still a significant margin of people -- a significant majority people still support the recall.
Now you always get spin like that. But both camps agree there's been a trend unfavorable to Arnold Schwarzenegger. Both camps agree that this is terribly uncertain, a lot of turmoil. But still ready to be decided, that's still, as one of them called it, a jump-all -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Bob, the 15 women now coming forward, talking about sexual harassment with Arnold Schwarzenegger, is that what's caused the slip?
FRANKEN: Well, that seems to be what is the main part about it. The question is how much of a slip? And you have to remember that although any number of people might under normal circumstances reconsider their vote against or for Arnold Schwarzenegger and maybe turn against him, there's a strong, negative feeling about Gray Davis in this state.
So really what it's going to come down to is a choice between uncertainties about Arnold Schwarzenegger and all these accusations, versus somebody they are certain about, they don't like him, Gray Davis.
PHILLIPS: All right, Bob Franken from L.A., thanks.
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 October 6, 2003 - 13:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well it's the home stretch. Just one day left before the recall election in California. The candidates are making the most of the last day of to campaign. Voters will decide whether to replace Governor Gray Davis, and if so, with whom.
A poll conducted last week indicates folks may be having second thought about the recall. As the week wore on, fewer people say that they would definitely vote in favor of it. In just a few minutes we'll check in with CNN's Bob Franken, but now let's begin with Dan Lothian -- Dan.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Governor Gray Davis is very busy today, campaigning. He will begin -- at about two minutes from now he will begin with an event here in Sacramento, the Young Voter's Forum and then the Get Out the Vote rally in Sacramento -- or rather San Francisco and another rally also in Los Angeles. The governor is trying to stay on message in these last few hours before the recall election.
The governor is trying to focus a group of people who have said in polling that they would vote for the recall. These are Democrats, 27 percent or so of Democrats who say they do support the recall. And the governor has said all along that if the voters got a chance to see what was in the background of Arnold Schwarzenegger that they would think twice about voting for this recall.
So today he's out, he's trying to convince that 27 percent of Democrats that they should change their minds and they should go against the recall and keep him in Sacramento. The governor, as I mentioned, has been attacking Arnold Schwarzenegger. He did so throughout the weekend saying these allegations are disturbing. But he also talked on the Larry King show about how his faith has played a major role in the recall battle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GRAY DAVIS (D), CALIFORNIA: I don't like this, I don't think it's fair. But I know people are not interested in my problems. I ask for the privilege of solving their problems and we've solved quite a few. We still have some to go.
But I -- as you know, as we've talked before about this, I am a person of faith and I believe that God doesn't give you more than you can handle. And I carry a little prayer card with me -- I can show you if you like. It's a "Nothing will happen to me today that the Lord and I cannot handle together."
And I believe that this is a test, that I'm meant to go through and that somehow it will all work out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LOTHIAN: In that same interview on Larry King he was joined by his wife. When she was asked whether he felt that Governor Davis would be able to beat this recall vote, she said yes, I fully expect him to win. The governor as well feels that he will be able to pull this off. And so he's going out there again, with his message, trying to let the people of California know that he's the person to repair the problems of the state. Back to you, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Dan Lothian from Sacramento, thank you.
Now to Bob Franken who is following Schwarzenegger's campaign from l.a. -- Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well you know it's interesting, Kyra. The election comes down at the end to the question about Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's just about all about Arnold, people would say. But when you think about it it's been the case pretty much all along.
It is true that the real issue here is whether the governor of California in historic fashion should be recalled but. This has been something of fascination around the world ever since Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy on the Jay Leno show in early August. And throughout this campaign it has really been a question, would Arnold Schwarzenegger become the next governor of California?
In the last days of the campaign last week, he was in fact looking like he was pulling away from the pack, that it looked like the recall would succeed and Arnold Schwarzenegger would get elected. But then came the revelations, the revelations in "The L.A. Times" of accusations from a number of women, that has now grown to 15, that over the decades Schwarzenegger groped them, made unwelcome sexual advances and questions about what he said about Adolf Hitler decades ago.
Those questions have out-dominated the campaign. There have been some polls, but not that have completely covered the area where this has been the controversy and the two camps, of course, are taking internal polls all of the time.
Democratic sources are saying that as a result of all this the sentiment for recall has gone down. As a matter of fact, they say it's a statistical tie where it was going to easily win and Davis was going to lose. They also say that Schwarzenegger has slipped.
Now the Schwarzenegger camp says that, yes, Schwarzenegger has slipped a little bit. But he's still comfortably ahead of the man behind him, Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, and that's still a significant margin of people -- a significant majority people still support the recall.
Now you always get spin like that. But both camps agree there's been a trend unfavorable to Arnold Schwarzenegger. Both camps agree that this is terribly uncertain, a lot of turmoil. But still ready to be decided, that's still, as one of them called it, a jump-all -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Bob, the 15 women now coming forward, talking about sexual harassment with Arnold Schwarzenegger, is that what's caused the slip?
FRANKEN: Well, that seems to be what is the main part about it. The question is how much of a slip? And you have to remember that although any number of people might under normal circumstances reconsider their vote against or for Arnold Schwarzenegger and maybe turn against him, there's a strong, negative feeling about Gray Davis in this state.
So really what it's going to come down to is a choice between uncertainties about Arnold Schwarzenegger and all these accusations, versus somebody they are certain about, they don't like him, Gray Davis.
PHILLIPS: All right, Bob Franken from L.A., thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
