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American Morning

Recall Race

Aired August 14, 2003 - 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: California's recall race, a colorful kaleidoscope, always changing. We saw it in the past 24 hours. Several significant developments to bring you up to speed on.
To Bob Franken in L.A. With the ballot, first off, it is now final, Bob.

Good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

And it's only 135 candidates. The estimates were well over 200. Of course, 135 candidates is going to give fits to the various registrars in the state. As a matter of fact, the mechanisms that were set up are prompting some lawsuits that will be heard in federal court, one on Friday, tomorrow, and one on Monday, that are given a less than even chance of succeeding. But if they did succeed, they would delay things, much to the relief of the registrars who are now facing 55 days from now an unprecedentally (ph) complicated election which could take days to have a final result -- Bill.

HEMMER: Outside the governor's race, the president is going to be stumping there in week, some fund-raising trips in California. The White House says they are going to stay out of it essentially. I wonder how hard or how easy that might be, Bob?

FRANKEN: I think it will be quite easy. George W. Bush is a mixed commodity in California. Don't forget, this is a very heavily Democratic state, and the Demthey would like nothing better to say that this is the White House meddling in this, and so the president will stay out of that. Besides which Republican statehouse could be a mixed bag.

Obviously, the organizational advantages would be great in next year's election for the president, who if the Republican would get in does poorly, that could end up being more of a negative.

HEMMER: I want to get to some two more points if we could. Arnold Schwarzenegger has not said much in terms of his own policy. We do understand, though, he will roll out some ads, I think it's next week, is that right, Bob? If so, what do the ads say? What's the message?

FRANKEN: They would say vote for Arnold. There's about a million dollars worth of ad coming out next week. They've really been quite tight about what the ads are going to say.

However, he does have to fight a perception that he doesn't have experience in government, and those ads will probably cover that.

HEMMER: What's the rip with Warren Buffett saying he'll advise him on the economics of California? A Democrat, nonetheless, from the middle part of the country.

FRANKEN: A Democrat from the middle part of the country, but somebody who could bring heft to the Schwarzenegger campaign, somebody who could put together a group of businessmen. Schwarzenegger says that he's going to try to address the problems of the state by doing that. The problem there is that businesses are set up to make a profit, and of course, government is more complicated than that. It's going to be controversial, but Warren Buffett at least gives his campaign a bit of intellectual, as I said, heft.

HEMMER: Well, they give us more to talk about every day, don't they, Bob?

FRANKEN: They do, indeed.

HEMMER: Bob Franken in L.A.

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 14, 2003 - 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: California's recall race, a colorful kaleidoscope, always changing. We saw it in the past 24 hours. Several significant developments to bring you up to speed on.
To Bob Franken in L.A. With the ballot, first off, it is now final, Bob.

Good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

And it's only 135 candidates. The estimates were well over 200. Of course, 135 candidates is going to give fits to the various registrars in the state. As a matter of fact, the mechanisms that were set up are prompting some lawsuits that will be heard in federal court, one on Friday, tomorrow, and one on Monday, that are given a less than even chance of succeeding. But if they did succeed, they would delay things, much to the relief of the registrars who are now facing 55 days from now an unprecedentally (ph) complicated election which could take days to have a final result -- Bill.

HEMMER: Outside the governor's race, the president is going to be stumping there in week, some fund-raising trips in California. The White House says they are going to stay out of it essentially. I wonder how hard or how easy that might be, Bob?

FRANKEN: I think it will be quite easy. George W. Bush is a mixed commodity in California. Don't forget, this is a very heavily Democratic state, and the Demthey would like nothing better to say that this is the White House meddling in this, and so the president will stay out of that. Besides which Republican statehouse could be a mixed bag.

Obviously, the organizational advantages would be great in next year's election for the president, who if the Republican would get in does poorly, that could end up being more of a negative.

HEMMER: I want to get to some two more points if we could. Arnold Schwarzenegger has not said much in terms of his own policy. We do understand, though, he will roll out some ads, I think it's next week, is that right, Bob? If so, what do the ads say? What's the message?

FRANKEN: They would say vote for Arnold. There's about a million dollars worth of ad coming out next week. They've really been quite tight about what the ads are going to say.

However, he does have to fight a perception that he doesn't have experience in government, and those ads will probably cover that.

HEMMER: What's the rip with Warren Buffett saying he'll advise him on the economics of California? A Democrat, nonetheless, from the middle part of the country.

FRANKEN: A Democrat from the middle part of the country, but somebody who could bring heft to the Schwarzenegger campaign, somebody who could put together a group of businessmen. Schwarzenegger says that he's going to try to address the problems of the state by doing that. The problem there is that businesses are set up to make a profit, and of course, government is more complicated than that. It's going to be controversial, but Warren Buffett at least gives his campaign a bit of intellectual, as I said, heft.

HEMMER: Well, they give us more to talk about every day, don't they, Bob?

FRANKEN: They do, indeed.

HEMMER: Bob Franken in L.A.

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