Posted on 08/07/2003 10:53:32 PM PDT by FairOpinion
CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) - President Bush is leaving the door open to campaigning for California Republican gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger if it could help tip the balance in a close recall election, officials said Thursday.
Nearly a dozen people with ties to Bush emphasized he has no plans now to do so. But none would rule it out.
The White House took pains to publicly distance itself from the volatile campaign. Behind the scenes, though, administration officials and Bush re-election aides spent Thursday trying to discern the state of play in the tumultuous election.
They reached out to their network of lawmakers and other influential Republicans in the nation's most populous state on a day when Rep. Darrell Issa, the California Republican who bankrolled the recall petition campaign against Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, tearfully dropped out.
Bush will spend two days in California next week, and officials said they saw no prospect of him campaigning with Schwarzenegger, who served as fitness czar in the White House for the president's father.
``The president believes that this is an issue for the people of California,'' White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan told reporters as Bush relaxed at his ranch.
Asked repeatedly whether she could rule out Bush helping Schwarzenegger, she wouldn't answer, repeating her insistence that the White House viewed the election as a state matter. Other officials said they could envision Bush campaigning for Schwarzenegger late in the campaign if it was clear Bush could help push him over the top.
Schwarzenegger, with his star power and history of GOP activism, is viewed by the White House as the Republican with the best shot at ousting Davis. It was unclear what Bush would do if another high-profile Republican, such as former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, entered the race. Riordan was the White House's pick to challenge Davis last year, but he lost in the Republican primary to businessman Bill Simon.
Bush has a strong track record in helping carry fellow Republicans to electoral victories. Of the 53 candidates Bush raised money for in last year's elections, 37 won.
The White House is also trying to calculate the impact on Bush's re-election campaign next year. California carries 55 electoral votes, the most of any state.
Duf Sundheim, chairman of the California Republican Party, said he had told White House officials the recall could give the president a major boost in a state Bush lost decisively in 2000.
``There's a lot of enthusiasm we're trying to capture for the president and other Republican candidates,'' he said. According to Sundheim, the recall has fueled a surge in GOP registrations.
National security adviser Condoleezza Rice, mentioned as a possible gubernatorial candidate in California, said she has trouble imagining herself in that role.
``I don't think I'm of the particular breed,'' Rice told the National Association of Black Journalists' annual convention in Dallas. ``Those people are a kind of special breed, I think, who run for office. We put them through an awful lot. And it's a little difficult for me to imagine doing it.
``I'm not a very good long-term planner. I really don't say 'never' to anything,'' Rice said. ``But it is not on my radar screen to run for elective office.''
Schwarzenegger met in April with Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser. White House officials said at the time that Schwarzenegger simply dropped by to talk about an after-school program that California voters approved last year and to see what he could do to support U.S. troops overseas.
You mean like the idiotic Karl Rove strategy that won a presidential election against a popular incumbent's annointed successor, during a time of peace and prosperity? Or are you referring to the idiotic Karl Rove strategy that helped win back the Senate in an off-term election, during a recession?
The President, as an individual, can express whatever opinions he wants to. As President, it would be interfering in a State election. Although the Democrats would have no problem doing so themselves, they'd use it as ammo against the GOP in future elections in a heart beat.
As for backing Ah-nold. No. Bush should throw his weight behind REAL conservative like Sen. Tom McClintock.
And don't forget: can use State law enforcement to look into vote fraud in Dem strongholds, if he has the balls to do it.
I believe that Arnie is a RINO, pro-abortion, anti-gun, but you are absolutely right.
The only way for California to move right is to do so gradually.
In that respect, Arnie would be a good "transition" from socialist government to a more conservative one..
CRAWFORD, Texas (CNN) -- President Bush has no plans to endorse actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican who campaigned actively for his father, or to get involved in the California recall race at all, a White House spokeswoman said Thursday.
Definitely the smart approach. I hope it's true.
Perhaps you have forgotten that Gore actually got more popular votes, and came within a whisker of winning in the Electoral College, as well.
The President, as an individual, can express whatever opinions he wants to. As President, it would be interfering in a State election. Although the Democrats would have no problem doing so themselves, they'd use it as ammo against the GOP in future elections in a heart beat.
So President Bush should have stayed out of the 2002 election? Shall we give Mrs. Carnahan her seat back, along with all the other Democrats who went down to defeat, in part because the president was out there "interfering in state elections"?
As for backing Ah-nold. No. Bush should throw his weight behind REAL conservative like Sen. Tom McClintock.
But you just said Bush shouldn't interfere in state elections! I am not taking sides in this; I'm not from Cali. I just want a Republican to win! If that turns out to be McClintock, that's fine by me. And I don't think there's anything wrong with the president helping giving whichever candidate is within striking range a little extra push when it gets close to the election.
SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, I can tell you that we have to clean house in Sacramento. The most important thing is that we bring business back to California. There are more businesses leaving California now than ever before. When businesses come back, revenue comes back, when revenue comes back we can afford all kinds of different programs that are very important. We want to make sure that the children are not left with without any books. We want to make sure that our children have the books, that they have their place in the classroom. We want to make sure that they have after school programs. We want to make sure the mothers have affordable day care. We want to make sure the older folks have their care that they need. That everything has to be provided for the people. We have such a great state, there's no reason why we are in the state we are in today.
With "libertarian" views like that, I imagine businesses will be falling over themselves to get back into California under Gov. Ahnold.</sarcasm>
"The President, while he is doing a fine job, has his own issues and problems to deal with. This is a California matter, and we don't need presidents, or ex-presidents, for that matter, or senators to come into the state and tell us what to do." (A good answer with a subtle Clinton slam as a bonus...HA!)
Coupled with the President's statement that this was an issue to be settled by the people of California, and the statement of the White House press briefer, I do not think the president is going to interfere.
Neither the President nor Arnold are stupid. They do not want this to turn into a referendum on Bush and draw the ire of the rabid, Bush-hating leftists into the discussion. The focus needs to be on California issues, Davis mishandling of the government, and positive choices by electing Arnold. The fact that the Guardian picked this story up and is trumpeting it tells me that the left is trying to draw Bush into the race. It isn't going to happen.
And about half the people in the US are on the government dole, ergo: they are democrats. This is the same populace that voted for Clinton twice. That Bush won by such a slim margin is no reason to crow.
So President Bush should have stayed out of the 2002 election? Shall we give Mrs. Carnahan her seat back, along with all the other Democrats who went down to defeat, in part because the president was out there "interfering in state elections"?
So you approve of a federal official interfering in State elections? That's rather telling... Wrong is wrong. It doesn't matter who does it, how long it's been going, nor why. Slumming down to the level of your poltical opponents only makes you like them.
But you just said Bush shouldn't interfere in state elections! I am not taking sides in this; I'm not from Cali. I just want a Republican to win! If that turns out to be McClintock, that's fine by me. And I don't think there's anything wrong with the president helping giving whichever candidate is within striking range a little extra push when it gets close to the election.
Bush WILL "interfere". With his own re-election bid before him, he'd give Lucifer a pardon if it would score votes. That is what lifetime politicians do. If he's going to "interfere" anyway, he may as well give a grudging nod towards a REAL conservative instead of a Kennedy connected figure-head with more in common with Davis and the Democrats than the GOP.
First, I don't think your numbers are likely, but in any event...
Yes, Bush should stay out, period. There was no bounce for the GOP here, only blowback as Bush tried to annont Riordan to settle a political score with Secretary of State Bill Jones, CA's only statewide office-holder and the primary candidate most knowledgable of Sacramento. Jones offended Bush by backing McCain in 2000, and the Dynasty always strikes back.
Since no one wanted Riordan, we ended up with the inept Simon, who Bush-Rove further saddled with crony Gerry Parski Parski sowed dissension in the campaign, even as he stalled fundraising, his alleged forte. By the time Bush got to CA, the Simon campaign was limping, and Bush's support was tepid. Bush further hamstrung Simon's campaign with the national edict that Republicans couldn't mention Illegals in 2002, nevermind the tens of billions they cost us here annually.
Bush and Rove have demonstrated that they don't know how to beat Democrats in California, so no, I don't want them here. They had nothing to do with this recall, and they should let events play out.
This is actually smart for Bush, as well, because win or lose, it's better for him if his fingerprints aren't on this recall.
The above statement is a lie.
Tons of absentee ballots across the country were not counted as the outcome was already settled (In several states where Bush won big and the absentee votes were not numerous enough to change the election these votes weren't counted) Absentee votes probably run 80% republican.
Vote fraud was endemic in the 2000 election. Once you subtract out the multiple voters (Marquette University students as an example), the illegal voters, the dead, the manufactured voters (Voting machine in my trunk? I don't see any voting machine in my trunk!) you'll find that President Bush won by 20% or more.
The reason the dems were so upset is that they knew that Bush would win big and they FAILED to manufacture enough fraudulent votes to win. They screwed up and it cost them the White House
Our job is to insure that vote fraud dies with the democrats
In light of that, I ammend my last statement in my previous posting. Now that Arnie has called that one out, it'd look bad for the President to stick his nose in.
I wonder if Arnie plays chess?
Besides, Dubya understands that politics is the art of the possible and he will tolerate the candidacy of anyone who has the best chance to put an "R" next to the name of the governor of the biggest state in the union. You're right that lots of folks around here won't like it.
I remember hearing this at the time, but it was false then, and is still false now. Regardless of the margin of victory, every ballot had to be counted by law.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Arnold should not be underestimated. In his own right he is a formidable campaigner, and I do not think that there is any motive here on either his part or the part of the President except to let Californians handle this themselves.
I could be giving them both too much credit, but I don't trust ANY "apparent motives" where politicians are concerned.
One too many "Read My Lips" type incidents.
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