Democrats bicker over Bustamante's oddly quiet 2 days

[Freddie Stubbs]

SACRAMENTO – After being distracted for weeks by a fund-raising flap, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante yesterday faced questions about his absence from the campaign trail and whether he may be about to pull out of Tuesday's recall election.

Bustamante said he is in the race to stay. But the questions from reporters, fueled by rumors and speculation, led to sparring between Bustamante's strategist and an adviser to Gov. Gray Davis over who's to blame for the mess Democrats find themselves in just one week from judgment day.

Richie Ross, Bustamante's political adviser, accused the Davis team of engaging in "pre-election-night spin" that casts Bustamante as the culprit if the embattled governor goes down.

But Garry South, the governor's longtime strategist, called the assertion "ridiculous" and said it was Ross who first tried to blame the governor's aides for shortcomings of the Bustamante campaign.

more: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/recall/20031001-9999_1n1cruz.html

[CMT]

1. well if Davis and Bustamante are going to be bickering

like this then we may as well just throw up our hands.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. I will withhold my assertions about this until after the election

I had reservations about Bustamante's direction and the leader of his campaign from the get go.

RIght now..I will suck it up.

after the results come in...I will have LOTS to say.

[Democat]

20. I don't want to attack anyone until the election is over but

There is a book to be written about the Democratic problems during this campaign.

With all of the problems, though, the right wing media is the biggest problem by far.

[wtmusic]

3. If Davis goes down, Davis is the culprit

Here we go again with Gore/Nader disease

[donotpassgo]

4. I agree...

Davis is only f-ing himself. With a great deal of help from McCauliffe(sp?).

I was speaking to friends about this and they were angry about the recall and they said..."I think I may vote for Camejo". (groan).

[mitchtv]

6. i wil vote No/bustamante

I haven't said anything for weeks since he entered the race. But his non campaign or hispanic only campaign has been a non started . I think those of us who advocated no Dem contender will be vindicated. Cruz' performance has cost us votes..

[dolstein]

5. Sorry folks, but something's seriously wrong with Bustamente

This guy hasn't held any public events this week. When was the last time you heard of a candidate spending the last week of a campaign behind closed doors?

[Jinx]

7. All quiet on the home front

All Bustamente really needs to do to win is to get a heavy turn out in the cities, something that can be done by quietly wooing voters in those areas. Or getting enough people to vote for McClintock. Bwahahaha

[AP]

10. When Bustamente campaigns well, the Yes vote goes up, when Davis campaigns

well, Bustamante's votes go down.

This isn't Davis's or Bustamante's fault. It the nature of this fucking undemocratic recall.

The Dems must have some sophisticated polling that we don't know about. They must be seeing that the No vote has a better chance than a Bustamante victory, and their strategy on the second part is probably less of propping up Bustamante as it is attacking Arnold, and Bustamante isn't the guy to attack Arnold.

[Shrek]

8. Here's a related story

Bustamante campaign denies it's losing traction

PRESSURE TO QUIT FROM DAVIS' CAMPAIGN EXPOSING STRAINS BETWEEN DEMOCRATS

Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante was supposed to spend the last week of his campaign banging home a basic message to core Democratic Party supporters: Back him as the only antidote to a Republican takeover in Sacramento if Gov. Gray Davis is booted from office.

Instead, Bustamante has been fending off suggestions that his candidacy is foundering at the most critical juncture in a race many Democrats and political experts say is still too close to call.

Tuesday, Bustamante and Democratic Party leaders rebuffed rumors that the lieutenant governor is under pressure from Davis to quit the race -- even as the governor's longtime strategist, Garry South, said, ``He has no chance of winning this, none whatsoever.''

(SNIP)

Link

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

9. OK I am GOING to say it

Ritchie Ross was a REPUBLICAN lobbyist who has whored BOTH sides of the aisle in Sacramento for OVER a decade.
Ritchie Ross is the STUPID MOTHERFUCKER who is running around the fucking farmbelt where voter reg is UP for Dems convincing even DEMS to vote for the recall.

He knows the state like the back of his hand and can rattle off statistics on voters better that Carlos can in GD but he is NOT responsible for ANY statewide elected official.

Steve Smith in Davis office (on the other hand) was a LONG time aid to Willie Brown and KNOWs how to play ball.

Davis, while not being MR popular, has kept his DIGNITY and NOT turned this into an ugly inbred war the way Bustamante has...if the DEM party falls apart it won't be from a governor governing from the middle but from apower hungry opportunist BLOWING not only his OWN campaign but the party's untiy

Ritchie Ross needs to SHUT THE FUCK up and get on board with the DEMOCRATIC PARTY and stop this divisive idiotic politics.

Ritchie Ross needs to make Bustamante look like a DEMOCRAT instead of an egotistic spoiler who will shoot hsi own party in the foot to obtain power.

Cruz pulled this same shit just prior to the last election..in fact TWO WEEKS prior to the last election.

HEY CRUZ AN RITCHIE...if you are reading this...stop covering your own asses with both hands and SUPPORT THE GOVERNOR, THE PARTY and THE STATE!

[shanti]

11. ugh

now THAT's messed up! thanks for the info. i was planning to vote no on the recall, and yes for bustamante, but now you have me thinking...we don't need no stinking turncoats in the dem party here! :grr:

what are you planning to do now?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

13. I already voted NO on recall YES on Bustamante that is our only shot

Our only OTHER shot is the calls we are making to get out the vote.

My point is those recall numbers would be CONSIDERABLY different rigt now but for the DEFUNDING of our party by having to invest in TWO candidates..one who we invested in last October and one who has run his campaign poorly.

[dfong63]

15. more from article cited by DoubleDigitIQ

``This governor has never lacked for resources, so somehow to insinuate that Cruz Bustamante, because he's been able to raise a couple million dollars, is hurting Gray Davis, who probably has $20 million for his campaign, is probably one of the silliest arguments I've heard,'' said Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Garden Grove.

[Shrek]

16. Look like you're not the only one who thinks so

I just found this:

Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante may not just lose the race to replace Gov. Gray Davis if he's recalled, as the latest polls indicate, but he could also have killed his political career with his flawed campaign, analysts say.

(SNIP)

Bustamante got into his current predicament first by breaking ranks with Democrats backing Davis when he entered the race as a replacement candidate after first saying he wouldn't. Then he shifted from promoting a no vote on the recall to focus more on running for governor, which also angered Davis and his supporters.

Then he's been battered by continuing accusations and court action regarding Bustamante's acceptance of millions of dollars from Indians and unions. That, analysts say, has let voters see him as a Sacramento insider with uncuttable ties to special-interest groups.

[mitchtv]

22. it angered me

so did Loretta Sanchez

[dfong63]

17. getting out the vote is great, but

.... unless Davis also manages to change the voters' minds, there still won't be enough anti-recall voters for you to get out.

[Piperay]

26. Yeah, me too. I voted absentee and

so did my whole family...NO on recall...YES on Bustamante. I wonder what would happen if Bustamante withdrew but won the largest number of votes. :shrug:

[mitchtv]

12. the truth has an ugly way of slipping out

doesn't it

[dfong63]

14. more from the article cited by DoubleDigitIQ

The growing rift with Davis may hurt both the governor and Bustamante, say top Democrats. They say Bustamante's campaign should instead help the party by boosting turnout, particularly among Latino voters. Sen. Barbara Boxer, California Democratic Party chair Art Torres and Democratic National Committee chair Terry McAuliffe all told the Mercury News that the party remains behind Bustamante and its strategy. ``Cruz Bustamante is staying in this race,'' McAuliffe said at a campaign event with Davis. ``We have a very close, very close election.''

Political experts say that whatever becomes of Bustamante's strategy, Davis' late repudiation of him was predictable.

``This is all Davis spin,'' said Bruce Cain, a political-science professor at the University of California. ``And Republicans want to encourage it, too. They understand that . . . if they can pull the plug on Bustamante . . . it's Governor Terminator.''

can the scapegoating, folks. if Davis loses, he's got no one but Davis to blame. Cruz is giving dems "two chances to win". even if Cruz fails, i still salute him for at least trying, instead of following lemming-like after Davis's self-serving strategy of trying to deny the voters a choice. Cruz adopted a principled but extremely difficult strategy with his "no on recall, yes on Bustamante" theme. maybe he made a mistake by not going after Davis, even as Davis tried to undermine him.

scapegoating is a symptom of defeatism. it ain't over til it's over. the time for recriminations will only be after the votes are counted.

[PATRICK]

18. Poliitical pros

versus the Coup. Lousy lousy inflexible idiots. I though South had gone to the Lieberman campaign which almost immediately dissolved in Dem damaging bile. Either this is an example of how we can't use the tactics of the other side or South IS the other side. For all practical purposes
we've been led by idiots played the unscrupulous GOP like a two-bit something or other.

Gutshot by one push poll(deflating the cautious spin, probably optimistic spin of Davis and Mr. B.) the two campaigns, never properly coordinated to begin with, immediately stumble into the type of media fodder, non-campaign mode, any opposition would lust for. The other third party candidates join in the cloud by looking suddenly as if they have to bail out the Dems and this is made to sound futile as well. Laying down in the road for the overlooked monstrosity that is the Arnold candidacy. You'd think THEY were dodging bullets in Iraq. A war of words. Truth CAN win a war of words. Why is it Dems are always most presented as losing their nerve and unity?

And it's too bad the inert and lied to public won't protect themselves in the now overwhelming return to sanity that is need just to get by the inevitable cheat margins.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

19. South didn't go to Lieberman for anything

Bustamante did.

South is the person whose strategy largely won us the state. Stever Smith in Davis office can quote this state like the devil can quote scripture.

For all the fucking bitching and moaning that goes on about Davis and fundraising, he BROUGHT other Dems into office with him and used those funds well.

He increased pay to union workers and protected overtime pay for EVERY WORKER in the state...8 hours a day 40 hours a week.

Bustamante could SIMPLY have run stating the majority of the budget problem was corrected (as it was) and underscored that we were only 8 billion dollars in debt and were holding spending, looking to consolidate services and working on job creation....

Nobody is scapegoating to point out that his rise was ON Davis coattails NOT vice versa.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

23. and that should about cover it

oy vay.

[Tinoire]

25. Aww Thank you from saving me the trouble

I posted this stuff weeks ago... This has been slimeball politics from the beginning- and I've had plenty to say about Bustamante since he broke ranks with the Democrats. There was a reason I didn't vote for him to be Governor and I still stand by that reason but won't bring it up here so close to the recall.

Damn - Davis better hang in there and my wishes are with him.

[rocktivity]

21. BORG JOURNALISM (Resistance to the GOP is futile)

Richie Ross, Bustamante's political adviser, accused the Davis team of engaging in "pre-election-night spin...Garry South, the governor's longtime strategist, called the assertion "ridiculous" and said it was Ross who first tried to blame the governor's aides for shortcomings of the Bustamante campaign.

What a misleading headline--two people, despite their job titles, hardly add up to "Democrats bicker." Someone scanning the paper might think there was a full-scale civil war going on. But that's just the effect they're aiming for.


rocknation

DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE! GET OUT AND VOTE!

[leesa]

24. More RW propaganda. San Diego is severely RW and has articles

highlighting Democratic bickering that probably never occurred all the time. NEVER believe anything in this San Diego rag. It's pure bullshit!

[Tinoire]

27. Plenty of bickering going on and it's been going on for a while

I can assure you of this from the times I spent watching not a single hair in Gray Davis'pompadour move the entire evening- no matter which way the breeze was blowing or how quickly he turned his head ;)

Davis has always acted like a gentleman about it. Cruz always felt Davis didn't dive him enough importance and resented it.


Yepper, Cruz Bustamante, New Dem extraordinaire, listed as one of the top 100 DLCers to watch. I think that says enough.

Thank you Governor Davis for the fight you waged against Enron when nobody in the Democratic Party came to your aid because some were too busy shaking that their own ties to Enron would be too... discussed. Thanks for standing up for us.