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American Morning
Arnold Schwarzenegger Opts Not to Join Debate
Aired September 01, 2003 - 8:39 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: California's Democratic Party chairman is accusing Arnold Schwarzenegger of ducking the first debate in the state's recall election. Some of the front-runners in the race to oust Governor Gray Davis will meet in a forum on Wednesday. But Schwarzenegger will not be among them. A Schwarzenegger aide says the actor will take part in just one debate. Davis, meanwhile, got some political jabs in at Schwarzenegger yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GRAY DAVIS (D), CALIFORNIA: Well, first of all, Mr. Schwarzenegger promised not to take any money. But now he's raising money with the best of them. So he's already broken that promise.
And secondly, until he sits in those shoes -- and I don't think he's going to have a chance to -- he's really in no position to criticize what we've done until he tells us, how would he have solved the $38 billion problem? How would he have kept the lights on in California?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: For more on the recall race we're joined from Philadelphia by CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein, who is the national political correspondent for the "Los Angeles Times," as well. Nice to see you, Ron. How are you?
RON BROWNSTEIN, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": Good morning, Soledad. Good.
O'BRIEN: Oh, great. OK. Well, first and foremost, rivals say Schwarzenegger is ducking out of this debate. Give me a sense of how that could play in this. Or is it just so early that no one's really going to care?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think he can probably skip a couple debates, maybe one debate or more. But he's going to have to debate sooner or later, because the problem he faces is that the criticism his opponents are leveling against him really does reinforce a pre- existing concern among the electorate, which is that is this person who's been an actor up to the job of governor?
Now, the Schwarzenegger camp may feel that they don't need to do this because they've been very careful, as you know, about the way they've rolled him out so far. His public appearances have mostly been before sympathetic audiences, his media appearances have been "The Tonight Show," radio talk show hosts. And also, they may be concerned about giving too much stature to the other contenders on the second part of the ballot. I think they want to leave the perception there running against Davis.
So in that sense, not participating makes a certain amount of political sense. But eventually he is going to have to, as I think his own campaign has acknowledged.
O'BRIEN: All right. Well, as to be expected, the more he lets his position be known on various issues the more people step up and start criticizing those positions that he's taking. For example, on California's economy, a big issue in California, obviously, on Latino immigration, another big, huge issue in California, he has come out and he's getting some criticism. How do you analyze how that's going to play in this election?
BROWNSTEIN: Criticism from both sides. What's really fascinating is that Schwarzenegger is in the very odd position of running in a general election and a Republican primary at the same time. Almost everything he says comes under attack from Gray Davis and Cruz Bustamente on the one side, really from the left, and often from Tom McClintock, his Republican rival from the right.
For example, over the weekend, Schwarzenegger's association with former Governor Pete Wilson came under attack from Bustamante son the issue of Proposition 187, which denied public services to illegal immigrants. That's sort of from the left. And McClintock attacked him for his association with Wilson because Wilson once raised taxes. That's the kind of tightrope that he's on, where both sides can go after him on the same thing and try to peel away his support from either end.
O'BRIEN: It seems that politicians as a whole are pretty much ignoring this "Oui" magazine interview from 1977, which was big news last week. But some religious groups actually are coming out and saying come clean about that interview. Do you think it's sort of just gone and if he continues to ignore it will eventually go away? Or could these religious groups have enough clout to make this a sticky issue throughout the campaign?
BROWNSTEIN: I think -- look, we've seen over the last few years that politicians can withstand a lot of revelations about their personal life and still keep going. But I do think it's going to be a bit of a headache for him, again, because I think the most damaging stories in politics are ones that reinforce existing preconceptions. And even before this interview surfaced, Schwarzenegger was having trouble with some social conservative groups because of his views on issues like abortion, where they think he's too moderate.
And also, he may have some trouble with women voters, who are less attracted to his on-screen persona than men. And that interview also has been criticized by some of his political opponents as being misogynistic.
So in the sense that it's a story that reinforces some damaging pre-existing story lines, I do think it's a headache. I don't think it's a fatal headache, but it is a problem.
O'BRIEN: Political correspondent for the "Los Angeles Times" Ron Brownstein, nice to see you. Thanks so much.
BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.
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 1, 2003 - 8:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: California's Democratic Party chairman is accusing Arnold Schwarzenegger of ducking the first debate in the state's recall election. Some of the front-runners in the race to oust Governor Gray Davis will meet in a forum on Wednesday. But Schwarzenegger will not be among them. A Schwarzenegger aide says the actor will take part in just one debate. Davis, meanwhile, got some political jabs in at Schwarzenegger yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GRAY DAVIS (D), CALIFORNIA: Well, first of all, Mr. Schwarzenegger promised not to take any money. But now he's raising money with the best of them. So he's already broken that promise.
And secondly, until he sits in those shoes -- and I don't think he's going to have a chance to -- he's really in no position to criticize what we've done until he tells us, how would he have solved the $38 billion problem? How would he have kept the lights on in California?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: For more on the recall race we're joined from Philadelphia by CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein, who is the national political correspondent for the "Los Angeles Times," as well. Nice to see you, Ron. How are you?
RON BROWNSTEIN, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": Good morning, Soledad. Good.
O'BRIEN: Oh, great. OK. Well, first and foremost, rivals say Schwarzenegger is ducking out of this debate. Give me a sense of how that could play in this. Or is it just so early that no one's really going to care?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think he can probably skip a couple debates, maybe one debate or more. But he's going to have to debate sooner or later, because the problem he faces is that the criticism his opponents are leveling against him really does reinforce a pre- existing concern among the electorate, which is that is this person who's been an actor up to the job of governor?
Now, the Schwarzenegger camp may feel that they don't need to do this because they've been very careful, as you know, about the way they've rolled him out so far. His public appearances have mostly been before sympathetic audiences, his media appearances have been "The Tonight Show," radio talk show hosts. And also, they may be concerned about giving too much stature to the other contenders on the second part of the ballot. I think they want to leave the perception there running against Davis.
So in that sense, not participating makes a certain amount of political sense. But eventually he is going to have to, as I think his own campaign has acknowledged.
O'BRIEN: All right. Well, as to be expected, the more he lets his position be known on various issues the more people step up and start criticizing those positions that he's taking. For example, on California's economy, a big issue in California, obviously, on Latino immigration, another big, huge issue in California, he has come out and he's getting some criticism. How do you analyze how that's going to play in this election?
BROWNSTEIN: Criticism from both sides. What's really fascinating is that Schwarzenegger is in the very odd position of running in a general election and a Republican primary at the same time. Almost everything he says comes under attack from Gray Davis and Cruz Bustamente on the one side, really from the left, and often from Tom McClintock, his Republican rival from the right.
For example, over the weekend, Schwarzenegger's association with former Governor Pete Wilson came under attack from Bustamante son the issue of Proposition 187, which denied public services to illegal immigrants. That's sort of from the left. And McClintock attacked him for his association with Wilson because Wilson once raised taxes. That's the kind of tightrope that he's on, where both sides can go after him on the same thing and try to peel away his support from either end.
O'BRIEN: It seems that politicians as a whole are pretty much ignoring this "Oui" magazine interview from 1977, which was big news last week. But some religious groups actually are coming out and saying come clean about that interview. Do you think it's sort of just gone and if he continues to ignore it will eventually go away? Or could these religious groups have enough clout to make this a sticky issue throughout the campaign?
BROWNSTEIN: I think -- look, we've seen over the last few years that politicians can withstand a lot of revelations about their personal life and still keep going. But I do think it's going to be a bit of a headache for him, again, because I think the most damaging stories in politics are ones that reinforce existing preconceptions. And even before this interview surfaced, Schwarzenegger was having trouble with some social conservative groups because of his views on issues like abortion, where they think he's too moderate.
And also, he may have some trouble with women voters, who are less attracted to his on-screen persona than men. And that interview also has been criticized by some of his political opponents as being misogynistic.
So in the sense that it's a story that reinforces some damaging pre-existing story lines, I do think it's a headache. I don't think it's a fatal headache, but it is a problem.
O'BRIEN: Political correspondent for the "Los Angeles Times" Ron Brownstein, nice to see you. Thanks so much.
BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
