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American Morning

Battle for California: Labor's Love Lost

Aired August 27, 2003 - 07:19   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In California, Bill, a key labor union is giving Governor Gray Davis a helping hand. The state's AFL- CIO chapter voted yesterday to oppose the recall of Davis, but at the same time it urged the support of Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, hoping it will increase voter turnout.
Bustamante spoke last night with CNN about his role in the race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GOV. CRUZ BUSTAMANTE (D), CALIFORNIA: My position is that I'm going to be in competition with Arnold and Peter and Tom. And I'm going to have to make sure that I'm going to present the best ideas that I have, because the voters are going to want every single candidate to be able to be very specific.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: How important is the AFL-CIO's union's endorsement? Joining us from Washington this morning is CNN political analyst Ronald Brownstein. He's a national political correspondent of the "Los Angeles Times" as well.

Good morning. Nice to see you. Thanks for joining us.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: The AFL-CIO has 2.1 million members, and they voted no on the recall overall, but yes to Bustamante. So, give me a sense of the impact of this vote and how important these 2.1 million members are overall.

BROWNSTEIN: Well, labor in California isn't the force that it is, say, in Michigan or Pennsylvania, but it is still a formidable presence and the most powerful get-out-the-vote mechanism on the Democratic side of the competition. About 30 percent of the voters typically in California are labor union members, and labor over the last several years, Soledad, not only in California, but everywhere, has gotten a lot better about reaching, persuading and turning out those people.

So, this should be an important boost, both for Cruz Bustamante and even Gray Davis, although he has been ambivalent about anyone, ambivalent to hostile to anyone taking the position of no and yes. In the end, the labor people feel that being for Bustamante, as well as being against the recall, will help them increase turnout, especially among Latinos who are an important part of their membership in California.

O'BRIEN: Originally, the AFL-CIO was opposed to Bustamante's entrance in the race overall.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: But then they've endorsed him, as you say, to boost turnout, saying that the presence of Bustamante will draw people into the polls. So, basically, in some way, you're saying they're hoping to use Bustamante to draw people to vote...

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: ... and then not put him in office, right? I mean, isn't that confusing?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, well, in a strange way. Yes, I mean, that's a very good way of putting it actually. Look, the entire Democratic Party is moving in this direction. I thin, there's a certain inexorability about this process -- the state Democratic congressional delegation, members of the Democrats of the state legislature now, then first the teachers and the public employees and now the full state AFL-CIO.

Eventually, I suspect even Gray Davis is going be forced into a position like this for two reasons -- one, because it does probably help turnout; secondly, because Davis is never going to be home free. I mean, even his own advisers believe that at best he will narrowly survive this. He could narrowly lose it. He could lose it badly.

And Democrats are going to want to have a fall-back position in case Davis can't survive. It really doesn't make a lot of sense from a partisan point of view to put all of your eggs in the Davis basket when the odds are really so tight that he does survive.

O'BRIEN: A quick final question for you. The Hispanic vote for Bustamante, 51 percent say that Bustamante has their support.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: You know, sometimes I think, well, that sounds high. But on the other hand, he's Hispanic. That sounds low.

BROWNSTEIN: Right. I think that is low. I mean, I think one of the things they're hoping is labor picks up. Only 40 percent of union members in that same "L.A. Times" poll said they were voting for Bustamante. So, that's another key constituency that this endorsement could obviously affect.

Since 1994 when the Republican backed Prop 187 cutting off services to illegal immigrants, California Latinos have been moving Democratic. Schwarzenegger could have some appeal to younger voters, though. So, Bustamante is going to have to pick that up if he is going to increase his overall share of the vote.

O'BRIEN: Ron Brownstein from the "L.A. Times," thanks for joining us this morning. Ron, nice to see you as always. Appreciate it.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you. My pleasure.

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 27, 2003 - 07:19   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In California, Bill, a key labor union is giving Governor Gray Davis a helping hand. The state's AFL- CIO chapter voted yesterday to oppose the recall of Davis, but at the same time it urged the support of Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, hoping it will increase voter turnout.
Bustamante spoke last night with CNN about his role in the race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GOV. CRUZ BUSTAMANTE (D), CALIFORNIA: My position is that I'm going to be in competition with Arnold and Peter and Tom. And I'm going to have to make sure that I'm going to present the best ideas that I have, because the voters are going to want every single candidate to be able to be very specific.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: How important is the AFL-CIO's union's endorsement? Joining us from Washington this morning is CNN political analyst Ronald Brownstein. He's a national political correspondent of the "Los Angeles Times" as well.

Good morning. Nice to see you. Thanks for joining us.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: The AFL-CIO has 2.1 million members, and they voted no on the recall overall, but yes to Bustamante. So, give me a sense of the impact of this vote and how important these 2.1 million members are overall.

BROWNSTEIN: Well, labor in California isn't the force that it is, say, in Michigan or Pennsylvania, but it is still a formidable presence and the most powerful get-out-the-vote mechanism on the Democratic side of the competition. About 30 percent of the voters typically in California are labor union members, and labor over the last several years, Soledad, not only in California, but everywhere, has gotten a lot better about reaching, persuading and turning out those people.

So, this should be an important boost, both for Cruz Bustamante and even Gray Davis, although he has been ambivalent about anyone, ambivalent to hostile to anyone taking the position of no and yes. In the end, the labor people feel that being for Bustamante, as well as being against the recall, will help them increase turnout, especially among Latinos who are an important part of their membership in California.

O'BRIEN: Originally, the AFL-CIO was opposed to Bustamante's entrance in the race overall.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: But then they've endorsed him, as you say, to boost turnout, saying that the presence of Bustamante will draw people into the polls. So, basically, in some way, you're saying they're hoping to use Bustamante to draw people to vote...

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: ... and then not put him in office, right? I mean, isn't that confusing?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, well, in a strange way. Yes, I mean, that's a very good way of putting it actually. Look, the entire Democratic Party is moving in this direction. I thin, there's a certain inexorability about this process -- the state Democratic congressional delegation, members of the Democrats of the state legislature now, then first the teachers and the public employees and now the full state AFL-CIO.

Eventually, I suspect even Gray Davis is going be forced into a position like this for two reasons -- one, because it does probably help turnout; secondly, because Davis is never going to be home free. I mean, even his own advisers believe that at best he will narrowly survive this. He could narrowly lose it. He could lose it badly.

And Democrats are going to want to have a fall-back position in case Davis can't survive. It really doesn't make a lot of sense from a partisan point of view to put all of your eggs in the Davis basket when the odds are really so tight that he does survive.

O'BRIEN: A quick final question for you. The Hispanic vote for Bustamante, 51 percent say that Bustamante has their support.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: You know, sometimes I think, well, that sounds high. But on the other hand, he's Hispanic. That sounds low.

BROWNSTEIN: Right. I think that is low. I mean, I think one of the things they're hoping is labor picks up. Only 40 percent of union members in that same "L.A. Times" poll said they were voting for Bustamante. So, that's another key constituency that this endorsement could obviously affect.

Since 1994 when the Republican backed Prop 187 cutting off services to illegal immigrants, California Latinos have been moving Democratic. Schwarzenegger could have some appeal to younger voters, though. So, Bustamante is going to have to pick that up if he is going to increase his overall share of the vote.

O'BRIEN: Ron Brownstein from the "L.A. Times," thanks for joining us this morning. Ron, nice to see you as always. Appreciate it.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you. My pleasure.

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