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American Morning

Will Arnold Schwarzenegger's Past Come Back to Haunt Him?

Aired October 02, 2003 - 07:33   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: To California. Will Arnold Schwarzenegger's past come back to haunt him just days before voters go to the polls there? Six women, four of them anonymously, telling the "L.A. Times" after an investigation was launched that Schwarzenegger made unwanted advances toward them, groping some of them, over the past three decades, dating back to the 1970s.
A spokesperson for Schwarzenegger denies it, saying, "We believe Democrats and others are using this to try to hurt Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign. We believe that this is coming so close before the election, something that discourages good, hard working, decent people from running for office."

Ron Brownstein is a writer for the "L.A. Times."

He's with us live today in San Francisco.

Nice to see you, Ron.

It is very early out there.

RON BROWNSTEIN, "L.A. TIMES": It is bright and early, Bill.

Good morning.

HEMMER: Listen, I'm going to try and spark you up just a little bit this morning, OK?

I know this report just came out, but essentially your paper went out and talked to a lot of women who had contact with Arnold Schwarzenegger in different roles, in different jobs over the past three decades.

Can this hurt him or do voters look at this and say you know what? It's mud slinging at this point, this close to Tuesday.

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think, I'd have to say those three words that are hardest to say on television, I don't know. We don't know for sure. People are still arguing about the impact of the drunk driving revelations on the very end of the presidential race in 2000. You have two competing impulses here. On the one hand, people are paying a lot of attention out here in California, remarkably so. And so this is going to get a lot of notice. It appears at a very dramatic time.

On the other hand, there is the thing that you mentioned, which is revelations that come out very race -- very late before an election sometimes are suspect.

I should point out that in the story the authors explicitly say that none of the information, none of the leads to the women came from any other campaign and, in fact, none of the women contacted the paper. They were all found by the reporters.

HEMMER: Meanwhile, though, this is videotape from yesterday. Arnold Schwarzenegger is already talking as if he is governor, his first 100 days.

How have you noted that shift in strategy as of yesterday?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, clearly, if you look at their schedule over the weekend, they have a series of rallies that are going to be very dramatic, trying to create a sense of momentum, trying to drive home the sense that this is over. And, in fact, many Democrats are concerned that absentee some major misstep by Schwarzenegger or people have talked about some new revelation about him, it was going to be very difficult for Davis to make up the ground he needed to in the final days.

Certainly Schwarzenegger wants to create that sense of inevitability. One of the problems with a story like this is it throws everything up in the air, at least for today.

HEMMER: Let's talk about Gray Davis. He's pulling in all the big guns as best he can right now. President Clinton again today expected to be at rallies. A portion of an ad that is running now that features the former president supporting Gray Davis now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT: I don't want this to happen to him. But this is way bigger than him. This is the right thing to do, to beat this recall. It's the right thing. It's the fair thing. It's the just thing. It's the good thing. Gray Davis hasn't lost heart. Don't you lose heart. You go out and beat this thing. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Now, we all have to wait and see whether or not this is going to have an impact out there in California. You said something very interesting yesterday. You believe that Gray Davis has lost the support of 30 percent of Democrats in the state.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

HEMMER: That's staggering.

BROWNSTEIN: In the "L.A. Times" poll, look, he's still suffering enormous defection from Democrats, especially less affluent, less well educated, sort of the blue collar Democrats. There's almost the equivalent of the Reagan Democrats out here, the Schwarzenegger Democrats at the moment. They say that in a private polling, their best moments in this entire arduous struggle have been when Clinton came out. That was when they thought they got the closest. If they could get him again, it obviously would be a boost for them because they continue to suffer erosion among Democratic constituencies, union members, Latinos. People who have voted very heavily Democratic in the past are still casting a remarkable percentage of their opinions against Davis in these polls.

So that clearly is a principal focus for them in the final hours.

HEMMER: Ron, thanks.

Get a nap today, all right?

BROWNSTEIN: All right, thanks, Bill.

HEMMER: Thanks again for the effort.

Ron Brownstein in San Francisco.

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 2, 2003 - 07:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: To California. Will Arnold Schwarzenegger's past come back to haunt him just days before voters go to the polls there? Six women, four of them anonymously, telling the "L.A. Times" after an investigation was launched that Schwarzenegger made unwanted advances toward them, groping some of them, over the past three decades, dating back to the 1970s.
A spokesperson for Schwarzenegger denies it, saying, "We believe Democrats and others are using this to try to hurt Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign. We believe that this is coming so close before the election, something that discourages good, hard working, decent people from running for office."

Ron Brownstein is a writer for the "L.A. Times."

He's with us live today in San Francisco.

Nice to see you, Ron.

It is very early out there.

RON BROWNSTEIN, "L.A. TIMES": It is bright and early, Bill.

Good morning.

HEMMER: Listen, I'm going to try and spark you up just a little bit this morning, OK?

I know this report just came out, but essentially your paper went out and talked to a lot of women who had contact with Arnold Schwarzenegger in different roles, in different jobs over the past three decades.

Can this hurt him or do voters look at this and say you know what? It's mud slinging at this point, this close to Tuesday.

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think, I'd have to say those three words that are hardest to say on television, I don't know. We don't know for sure. People are still arguing about the impact of the drunk driving revelations on the very end of the presidential race in 2000. You have two competing impulses here. On the one hand, people are paying a lot of attention out here in California, remarkably so. And so this is going to get a lot of notice. It appears at a very dramatic time.

On the other hand, there is the thing that you mentioned, which is revelations that come out very race -- very late before an election sometimes are suspect.

I should point out that in the story the authors explicitly say that none of the information, none of the leads to the women came from any other campaign and, in fact, none of the women contacted the paper. They were all found by the reporters.

HEMMER: Meanwhile, though, this is videotape from yesterday. Arnold Schwarzenegger is already talking as if he is governor, his first 100 days.

How have you noted that shift in strategy as of yesterday?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, clearly, if you look at their schedule over the weekend, they have a series of rallies that are going to be very dramatic, trying to create a sense of momentum, trying to drive home the sense that this is over. And, in fact, many Democrats are concerned that absentee some major misstep by Schwarzenegger or people have talked about some new revelation about him, it was going to be very difficult for Davis to make up the ground he needed to in the final days.

Certainly Schwarzenegger wants to create that sense of inevitability. One of the problems with a story like this is it throws everything up in the air, at least for today.

HEMMER: Let's talk about Gray Davis. He's pulling in all the big guns as best he can right now. President Clinton again today expected to be at rallies. A portion of an ad that is running now that features the former president supporting Gray Davis now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT: I don't want this to happen to him. But this is way bigger than him. This is the right thing to do, to beat this recall. It's the right thing. It's the fair thing. It's the just thing. It's the good thing. Gray Davis hasn't lost heart. Don't you lose heart. You go out and beat this thing. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Now, we all have to wait and see whether or not this is going to have an impact out there in California. You said something very interesting yesterday. You believe that Gray Davis has lost the support of 30 percent of Democrats in the state.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

HEMMER: That's staggering.

BROWNSTEIN: In the "L.A. Times" poll, look, he's still suffering enormous defection from Democrats, especially less affluent, less well educated, sort of the blue collar Democrats. There's almost the equivalent of the Reagan Democrats out here, the Schwarzenegger Democrats at the moment. They say that in a private polling, their best moments in this entire arduous struggle have been when Clinton came out. That was when they thought they got the closest. If they could get him again, it obviously would be a boost for them because they continue to suffer erosion among Democratic constituencies, union members, Latinos. People who have voted very heavily Democratic in the past are still casting a remarkable percentage of their opinions against Davis in these polls.

So that clearly is a principal focus for them in the final hours.

HEMMER: Ron, thanks.

Get a nap today, all right?

BROWNSTEIN: All right, thanks, Bill.

HEMMER: Thanks again for the effort.

Ron Brownstein in San Francisco.

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