Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
In California, A Bright, Shiny Star for Gray Davis
Aired November 06, 2002 - 09:43 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Also in California, a bright, shiny star out there for Gray Davis. He held off the challenge from Bill Simon, although a lot closer than a lot of people had anticipated. Rusty Dornin is tracking that for us in the Golden State with more now.
Hey, Rusty, good morning.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, it isn't exactly a nail-biter, but I'll tell you, it was a lot closer than any of us thought, especially the Democratic headquarters for Governor Davis. We figured it was going to be a victory party very early, that the governor would come down, just a couple of hours after the polls closed. It wasn't like that, it was a dead heat for a couple of hours after the polls closed. They were just neck and neck for much of the evening, and then finally, Davis started to pull ahead.
Now this has been the most expensive nonpresidential campaign ever. Davis raised $68 million over the past four years. That was something that he was criticized for, for concentrating too much energy on campaign funding. He was also accused of giving contributors favors.
Now Bill Simon was the underdog from the very beginning. He's never held any public office. He actually put about $10 million of his own money in, but his campaign, there were a few mistakes early on. He wouldn't show his tax returns early initially. He also accused the governor of accepting a campaign contribution in his office. That wasn't true. It was actually in a private home. He never apologized for that.
But all in all, California voters were thoroughly disgusted I think with both candidates. That was what the polls were showing, and a good indicator of that was that 25 percent of voters, as of yesterday morning,
Also, 10 percent of the votes this time went to the independent candidates. The Libertarian and the Green Party, also made a fairly strong showing. Now as "The L.A. Times" did put it this morning, the Republican sweep did stop at the California border, because the Democrats did sweep most of the top statewide offices, not only governor, lieutenant governor, comptroller, insurance commissioner, that sort of thing. So they did make a strong showing here, and there was a big celebration on that stage last night.
HEMMER: Rusty Dornin, again, tracking that in Southern California for us. 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 November 6, 2002 - 09:43 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Also in California, a bright, shiny star out there for Gray Davis. He held off the challenge from Bill Simon, although a lot closer than a lot of people had anticipated. Rusty Dornin is tracking that for us in the Golden State with more now.
Hey, Rusty, good morning.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, it isn't exactly a nail-biter, but I'll tell you, it was a lot closer than any of us thought, especially the Democratic headquarters for Governor Davis. We figured it was going to be a victory party very early, that the governor would come down, just a couple of hours after the polls closed. It wasn't like that, it was a dead heat for a couple of hours after the polls closed. They were just neck and neck for much of the evening, and then finally, Davis started to pull ahead.
Now this has been the most expensive nonpresidential campaign ever. Davis raised $68 million over the past four years. That was something that he was criticized for, for concentrating too much energy on campaign funding. He was also accused of giving contributors favors.
Now Bill Simon was the underdog from the very beginning. He's never held any public office. He actually put about $10 million of his own money in, but his campaign, there were a few mistakes early on. He wouldn't show his tax returns early initially. He also accused the governor of accepting a campaign contribution in his office. That wasn't true. It was actually in a private home. He never apologized for that.
But all in all, California voters were thoroughly disgusted I think with both candidates. That was what the polls were showing, and a good indicator of that was that 25 percent of voters, as of yesterday morning,
Also, 10 percent of the votes this time went to the independent candidates. The Libertarian and the Green Party, also made a fairly strong showing. Now as "The L.A. Times" did put it this morning, the Republican sweep did stop at the California border, because the Democrats did sweep most of the top statewide offices, not only governor, lieutenant governor, comptroller, insurance commissioner, that sort of thing. So they did make a strong showing here, and there was a big celebration on that stage last night.
HEMMER: Rusty Dornin, again, tracking that in Southern California for us. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
