Posted on 08/12/2003 9:01:40 AM PDT by .cnI redruM
Understanding the California Recall
There's plenty of confusion about the special rules and weird circumstances of the recall election. The more people who understand what's going on, the better. Here's our attempt to clear up a few things.
Getting the Recall on the Ballot
More than one million registered voters signed a petition to recall Governor Gray Davis. That was more than 12 percent of the number that voted in last year's gubernatorial election – the number needed to put the recall on the ballot. So, on October 7, California will vote on whether to recall Davis.
What Exactly Are We Voting On?
There are two separate questions that will be on the ballot.
Question One: Shall Gray Davis be recalled as governor?
This question is asking whether Californians want to remove Gray Davis from office. If more people say “YES” than say “NO,” Davis will no longer be governor. But if more people say “NO,” he will keep his job.
Everyone gets to vote on this section of the ballot.
Question Two: If Gray Davis is recalled as governor, who shall replace him?
This question asks voters to select a replacement candidate to become governor if Davis gets recalled.
Everyone gets to vote on this section of the ballot, too. That means even if you vote “NO” on the recall, you still have a say in who becomes governor if the recall succeeds.
If Davis is recalled, then the replacement candidate who gets the most votes will become governor. There is no runoff. That means that a candidate could win with less than 50 percent of the vote. For example, if Arianna gets 35 percent of the vote, but nobody else gets more than 34 percent, she would win.
Is the Recall a Good Thing or a Bad Thing?
Well, it' s a mixed bag.
On the one hand, the recall petition was initiated and funded by right-wingers who were just sore about losing the election to Davis last year. Everyone knows that the majority of Californians are upset with Davis because he' s too conservative. But these Republicans are trying to use that popular dissatisfaction to put someone even more conservative in the governor's chair.
On the other hand, the special circumstances of the recall give progressives and liberals a unique opportunity to elect a governor we can actually stand behind and believe in.
A candidate can become governor without winning a majority of votes. Hundreds of people are taking their shot, putting their hats in the ring. Most of the candidates with any real chance are Republicans and conservatives, like Bill Simon, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Tom McClintock.
Meanwhile, the Democrats are confused over whether to stay with Davis or back an alternative. The strength of Cruz Bustamante's candidacy, as an established Democratic politician, is uncertain at this point.
That means the field so far is open for a progressive candidate like Arianna. With the GOP and Democrats splitting the votes multiple ways, a true progressive, even an independent, could step in and get enough votes to win.
That makes this a tremendous opportunity for all of California. We can win, and change the whole state in the process.
Help us turn a top-down right-wing coup into a bottom-up people' s rescue of the state government. Vote for Arianna Huffington!
Joe McCarthy. Rush Limbaugh. Newt Gingrich. But since they aren't available, I guess Ahnold will have to do. I wish you luck, I really do.
Greek Skank
I remember.
She popped in saying "surprise" and informed FR that many well-known conservatives read the forum and that she was a fan. You are correct, she was a conservative pundit at the time. She then announced that she had started her own website (not like Lucianee with a forum. Arianna's site was for her own writings).
Incidentally, I have said, as have others, that one can trace her gradual but sure turn from right to left back to the Renaissance weekend she attended right before Monica became known. I posted an article about it the other day because I remember so well how shocked I was when she went on tv to describe how she met Bill Clinton at that event and introduced her daughter and how charming he was. Something was rotten in Denmark and she was never the same again, though it took awhile before it became clear she had really, truly changed.
Also her ex-husband was on Greta's show last night and he said Arianna was a democrat when he met her, then she changed to Republican, and now is a progressive.
Back to this article: I read her "Davis is conservative" assertion five times before I realized that, yes, she really meant that she considers Davis conservative! Yikes.
I saw one of the recall organizers state on C-SPAN that even though the recall was certified, the petitions were still coming in, and at last count were up around 2.6 million.
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