Gray Davis

[jiacinto]

Seeing him on CNN. This has got to be so hard for him, especially after he got booted out of office.

BTW, where's Arnold?

[MissB]

1. Yeah, I was just trying to picture Arnold

in his place. Couldn't do it.

[ThomWV]

3. Thankful

The good people of California should be good and damned thankful that Davis is still there, because if it the moron they are going to have as a Governor in there you could expect nothing less than chaos.

[onehandle]

2. Arnold is servicing Rove...

Or being serviced by him.

Kneepads all around now that the GOP owns California.

[Hawkeye-X]

4. Arnold is in Las Vegas

at Mr. Olympia thingy.

(That's where he belongs -- at a testerone convention)

And he's not even issuing any press releases to help comfort S. Californians in their time of need. :eyes:

Davis is doing all he can, and FEMA is stretched WAY thin.

Hawkeye-X

[EX-CONservative]

15. hmmm...

It's sort of like when Rome burned, Nero played the fiddle.

2003, SoCal burns and Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-nold goes to a musleman contest and looks for women to grope. :eyes:

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[joefree1]

5. Maybe Gray sees beyond this

Remember when Bush had sky high ratings? Who's Arnold gonna declare war on when his ratings take a nose dive.

I'm waiting for the media lovefest to end. Gray will have a great career as a "I told you so" talk show guest.

"It's not over 'till Arnold gropes the fat lady" —Bill Press, on MSNBC

http://www.recallarnoldwatch.org

[EX-CONservative]

18. If...

If Davis handles this well, he still will be term-limited (for life!!!) from ever serving as governor again but a new popularity in handling this problem plus not having the prospect of being an executive could propel him to DiFi's seat in 2006 should he retire.

If that happens, it would be a silver-lining in the cloud for him. He ran for what is now DiFi's seat in 1992 and lost to her in the primary. He truly coveted the Senate seat but settled for governor as a consolation prize.

The magic of karma...


BTW, with the way California is right now, someone has to be either very ambitious, very brave and dedicated or outright insane to aspire to being California governor right now.

With Davis outta there before the reality of the aftermath sinks in, he'll have a positive leaving note and he'll go to the Senate to the chagrin of the GOP in 2006! :evilgrin:

[Clete]

6. I'm still not convinced Arnold won.

:tinfoilhat: I don't understand why the Democrats don't demand a recount by an outside accounting agency to verify the results.

[Blitz]

10. Because it was a landslide?

As in not even remotely close and there is no legal basis for a recount (as there would be, automatically, if the election was close enough). The California Democrats took an awful beating on election day. About 62% of CALIFORNIA voters voted for Republicans. That was unheard of, until now. Schwarzenegger beat Bustamante by nearly 1.5 million votes, had more votes than Bustamante, McClintock, Camejo and Huffington combined, had more votes, by a fairly large margin, than the "no on recall" votes. The recall won by nearly a million votes and nearly a 10 point margin. Why on earth would any democrat ant to prolong the agony one second longer than absolutely necessary (and further anger voters in the process):


Shall GRAY DAVIS be recalled (removed) from the office of Governor?
100.0 % ( 15235 of 15235 ) precincts reporting as of Oct 27, 2003 at 12:56 pm
Votes Percent

Yes 4,848,903 55.4
No 3,912,850 44.6


County Returns

Leading Candidates to succeed GRAY DAVIS as Governor if he is recalled:
100.0 % ( 15235 of 15235 ) precincts reporting as of Oct 27, 2003 at 12:56 pm
Candidate Party Votes Percent

Arnold Schwarzenegger Rep 4,105,631 48.6
Cruz M. Bustamante Dem 2,665,600 31.6
Tom McClintock Rep 1,128,595 13.4
Peter Miguel Camejo Grn 234,886 2.8
Arianna Huffington Ind 46,637 0.6
Peter V. Ueberroth Rep 24,607 0.3
Larry Flynt Dem 17,009 0.3
Gary Coleman Ind 13,974 0.2
George B. Schwartzman Ind 12,096 0.2
Mary Cook Ind 10,908 0.2



http://vote2003.ss.ca.gov/Returns/summary.html

[Clete]

11. This is why I am unconvinced.

I don't believe that only 50% of the Democrats voted. I don't believe LA County went red when it has always been liberal. There are too many questions in my mind. Not only that Arnold was running around like his election was a done deal even before the election. He didn't even bother to put in the effort the other front running candidates did in campaigning.

[Blitz]

14. But what would be the legal basis for requesting a recount?

I don't think "I can't believe he whipped us so bad" will carry a lot of weight, even in California courts.

[EX-CONservative]

19. LA County...

LA County, while liberal, is full of movie and entertainment executives.

They voted for their own. Many people in LA are hip and try to act cool. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-nold got a big chunk of this vote.

Ahhhhhhhhhh-nold gave a faux appearance of a non-partisan candidate. We being astute, saw through the bullcrap. Yuppie swing voters ate his shit right up.

Ahhhhhhhhhh-nold voters voted, for the most part, for Ahhhhhhhhhh-nold. No other GOP candidate, except maybe Dick Riordan could get such a crossover potential.

More social liberal voters voted for Ahhhhhhhhhh-nold as well. It is likely many of those voters would have voted for Riordan as well but for virtually no other repug.

YMMV

[EX-CONservative]

17. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-nold won :(

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-nold won big even in punch card country.

We are more politically astute and more aware than most of our fellow citizens.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-nold got a lot of votes from the politically apathetic and fellow muscleheads.

It's a redux of the Ventura election. People trying to be a wiseass by voting for a celebrity. That also explains the huge turnout.

Almost half of voters voted. Without Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-nold, it would have been 1/3. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-nold got crossover appeal because he didn't accentuate (no pun intended) his political affiliation.

Voters less politically aware vote for "cool" candidates. There are many fellow voters who hate Bush but aren't very partisan. It is possible that a big chunk of Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-nold's voters won't ever vote for Bush.

[salin]

7. Wouldn't it be really bizarre... if Davis's handling of this

took on a Guiliani feel in the days right after 911. He was everywhere - rolling up his sleeves - appearing to be tending to the people. Suddenly his unpopularity sort of ... dissapated.

How odd - if in his handling of this crisis - which is reportedly a MUCH bigger set of fires (and in more populated areas) then other fires of recent years - if he was suddenly seen as an everyman hero?

Suddenly would turn the tone of the transition period for a little bit of a loop, wouldn't it.

[Clete]

9. It still wouldn't keep Arnold out of office unless

it was proved he didn't win after all.

[salin]

12. arnie will take office.. that isn't the point

the point is the tone of the transition. And the irony if in some quarters those who willfully threw Davis out/over... suddenly viewed him as heroic in crisis - and Arnie having to contend with that rather than being the hero kicking sand in the face of the ineffectual wimp.

[kskiska]

13. Maybe Davis could pull a Giuliani

and ask for another 6 months in office to help manage the mess.

[EX-CONservative]

22. Nopers...

Once the last of the ballots have been counted and all the counties have competed their canvas, the SoS will certify the election and soon after, Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-nold will be sworn in.

Had the recall been postponed until, say next month, Davis would've won. :cry:

Woulda... Shoulda... Coulda...

[okieinpain]

8. fire terry, he should never have promised to keep a viable can

idate from running. the dnc should have put someone up that had a shot at keeping that position for the dems. with all of this talk about the economy getting better you can believe arnold will be taking credit for it.

[EX-CONservative]

21. McAwful

Terry McAuliffe is an incompetent asshole. He is responsible for a string of losses. Maybe he's a pug plant? :shrug:

The only candidate able to beat starstruck Californians in star-worshipping California was DiFi.

DiFi should've run. Pure and simple...

[RuB]

16. Can Gray Davis run again in 06? eom

[EX-CONservative]

20. Nope...

He was elected twice. He can never run for re-election again until the day he dies under the current state constitution.

However, if Ahhhhhhh-nold is recalled in the current term, Davis could ask for a legal ruling whether he could run in the recall to complete the term since it was part of the original mandate anyway.

However, after 2006, there is no way no how that Davis could run for governor ever again, unless term-limits are thrown out.