Recalls are used for malfeasance in office, not just political change. The fact that such mechanisms that exist in one-third of the states, but have only been used against Governors only two times in a century, answers your question. If recall were merely a matter of political change, you would see them happening almost as often as elections.
You don't see anything approaching that. The people of California, Nebraska, etc., have demonstrated their understanding that recall is a very specific process that should be employed very, very seldom.
In short, as I have said, Howard Dean is a liar about this. So is Bill Clinton, who said just yesterday in California that "if a Republican is elected, there will be a recall against him, too." Clinton, too, is proved a liar by the simple facts of history.
There were three ATTEMPTED recalls against Governor Ronald Reagan. None came close to getting the necessary signatures to proceed to a vote. It only takes a handful of people with a few dollars and a phone and a copy machine to START the process. But it takes the decision of millions of Californians to turn that into a REAL ELECTION.
A lot of arguments can be made in theory. But most theories founder on the rocks of reality. The only person who can make the argument that recall = a standard political election is someone who is totally ignorant of the history of recalls at the state and local level.
BTW, there are dozens of recall elections every year, mostly at the local level. These are below the radar of the national press. But I've looked into them. Mostly they are the removal by the people of a local Sheriff or County Official who seems involved with corruption or is totally incompetent.
Because the petition requirements are much higher than the maximum levels permitted under the Constitution for simple elections, it takes the highest level of citizen outrage -- a true citizens' revolt -- to get any of these things on the ballot.
Recalls generally require 12% petitions (California) or even higher. Some of my cases in the US Supreme Court have mailed down the point that a petition requirement higher than 5% is unconstitutional for a candidate for President. That, too, is part of the history that liars like Bill Clinton, Gray Davis, and their assorted sycophants are deliberately ignoring.
No, a recall is nothing like an ordinary election. And the last time I checked, it is the sovereign people of each jurisdiction who have the right to put recall into their constitutions, or not to put it there. Writing and ratification of constitutions is also part of the "democratic process" as it exists in the United States.
I repeat -- those who say that recalls are simply reversing elections, are either totally ignorant of the recall process, or are liars.
John / Billybob