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<p>A full web video of the extraordinary discussion among former Govs. Jerry Brown, George Deukmejian, Pete Wilson and Gray Davis on the question of whether California is governable is now online here. The joint interview was done for California Connected, a public television public affairs program, by host Lisa McRee. Among the nuggets: Deukmejian recommends legalizing all forms of gambling throughout the state, and Brown (backed by Wilson) suggests letting governors put initiatives on the ballot without a vote of the Legislature. Davis and Brown, meanwhile, say a return to the part-time Legislature might be in order.</p>

<p>LOS ANGELES -- The Latino turnout Tuesday in California's recall election is the wild card that could allow Gray Davis to hang on to the governor's office.</p> <p>Most major polls show the embattled Democrat trailing badly in his bid to avoid being booted from office, and likely to be replaced by Republican challenger Arnold Schwarzenegger. That prospect has inspired a small army of union organizers who are blitzing potential voters in modest Latino neighborhoods with mailers, phone calls and advertisements in the Spanish-language press.</p>

E-mail Author Author ArchiveSend to a Friend <% printurl = Request.ServerVariables("URL")%> Print Version October 01, 2003, 9:36 a.m. Quitting in a HuffThe final dynamics. By Arnold Steinberg LOS ANGELES — Arianna Huffington has quit the California recall race. Instead of voiting Arianna, she urges three "No" votes and one "Yes" from her supporters next Tuesday. "No" on: the recall, Schwarzenegger, and Ward Connerly's Proposition 54. "Yes "on Arianna's future initiative for taxpayer-funded campaigns. Huffington's withdrawal makes the race more partisan, and could wind up helping Davis. But defeating the recall will be tough. With each passing day, more pro-recall...

SCHWARZENEGGER HAS emerged as the clear front-runner in the state’s historic recall election as the race enters its final days, increasingly viewed by a deeply disgruntled electorate as an optimistic leader and political outsider who can turn California around. In the past week, he has rallied almost the entire Republican establishment to his side. His television ads are running at all hours. Local news programs cover his every move. And the actor looks like he got a bounce from his first and only appearance at a candidates debate. Democratic leaders and some of Schwarzenegger’s rivals are also beginning to acknowledge...

By John Marelius UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER August 31, 2003 When are special interests not special interests? When is an outsider actually an insider? Why is a fearless "Terminator" reluctant to share the stage with a handful of second-tier politicians or discuss his policies with reporters? And why is a popular action hero running a barely active campaign for governor in terms of the number of public appearances? These are among the contradictions that in just a few weeks have come to characterize the political debut of Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has turned the Oct. 7 recall election of Gov. Gray...

SPEND SOME, LOSE SOME In California, the Propositions Keep Rolling AlongSACRAMENTO, Calif. — It was the last question of a long and raucous debate here, almost an afterthought, and for many television viewers it probably sounded like a lot of bureaucratic mumbo jumbo after the evening's theatrics. But perhaps more than any of the other questions posed to Arnold Schwarzenegger and the candidates seeking Gov. Gray Davis's job, the one asking whether they supported Proposition 53 struck at the heart of the chronic budget and taxation problems in California that have fueled the recall campaign and will undoubtedly haunt any...

You can bet the Republicans and Democrats are trying to figure out Stockton's Linda Mora and Jim Molina. Mora, 60, and Molina, 46, are registered Democrats -- mostly because that's the way their Latino families always voted. But put a decent Republican in front of them, and loyalty goes out the window. Given the choice between one good elephant and one good donkey, they're likely to play "eeny-meeny-miney-mo." "You have to get beyond party lines and look beyond that, at the person and the issues," said Mora, a program coordinator at El Concilio. "I vote independent of the party,"...

<p>SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Former Republican California Gov. Pete Wilson, who slogged through earthquakes, riots and one of the state's worst recessions in the 1990s, is weathering a new calamity -- Democratic attacks over his links to Arnold Schwarzenegger.</p> <p>A controversial figure since leaving office in 1999, Wilson, has become the poster boy for Democrats rallying voters to reject the Oct. 7 recall of Democratic Gov. Gray Davis.</p>

<p>Gov. Gray Davis and Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante stumped at union rallies across the state Monday, portraying Arnold Schwarzenegger as the political stepchild of Pete Wilson, the former governor whose policies infuriated organized labor.</p> <p>Schwarzenegger made his first public appearance in three days at the California State Fair in Sacramento, where he was mobbed by supporters and autograph seekers as he touted a pro-business and pro-education message.</p>

<p>The explosions that got this recall campaign off and running lit up the political sky but left a lot of damage, much of it self-inflicted. Arnold Schwarzenegger's stunning announcement flattened Gov. Gray Davis and shattered Democratic unity around the party's recall strategy, sending Davis' lieutenant governor, Cruz Bustamante, scurrying into the race, breaking his own pledge not to run.</p>

<p>As this Fox News article notes, Schwartzenneger is surrounded with Pete Wilson's "old hands" -- and his campaign is chaired by Wilson. PEOPLE, PETE WILSON RAISED CALIFORNIA TAXES BY MORE THAN $7 BILLION, BY SOME ESTIMATES. BIGGEST STATE-LEVEL TAX INCREASE IN AMERICAN HISTORY. And you're complaining about BUFFET? Buffet may ADVOCATE higher taxes, but Pete Wilson has actually ENACTED higher taxes. HE's been a HANDS-ON TAXPAYER TERMINATOR, where Buffet has only been in a position to talk. WHAT DOES IT SAY ABOUT ARNOLD THAT PETE WILSON IS IN CHARGE OF HIS CAMPAIGN? DOES THAT MEAN MORE PETE WILSON TAX HIKES IF ARNOLD WINS?</p>

A key to Arnold Schwarzenegger's prospects in the coming recall election is one that few have taken notice of: His campaign is being run by the most brilliant California Republican campaigner since Ronald Reagan. Former governor Pete Wilson, who is chairman of the Schwarzenegger campaign, shares Arnold's centrist brand of Republican politics, which is the only kind of Republican politics that can win at the state level. Even Ronald Reagan left issues like abortion on the back burner when he led California Republicans to victory. This is a state, it should never be forgotten, that has a million more registered...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 11, 2003 Contact: James Lafferty (202) 547-8570 CMG ISSUES 10 QUESTIONS THAT MAKE SCHWARZENEGGER HIDE Arnold May Not Give a "S-t" But Millions of Californians Do Anaheim, CA - Californians for Moral Government (CMG), a religious conservative organization started by Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, issued a list of questions today which the organization wants to ask gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger. "Mr. Schwarzenegger has said very little in public about the important moral issues," said Rev. Sheldon. "And what he has said is outrageous." Rev. Sheldon cited a quote which appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle concerning...

Former Governor Pete Wilson is on the Hugh Hewitt show now and has just said that he will support Arnold in the election.

Recalling California OrthopoxyI was recently reading some commentary the California Gubernatorial Recall Election, and came across this phrase: “a pox on the purists.” I thought a moment, and asked myself: which ones? The conservative purists, or the moderate purists? The principle purists, or the pragmatism purists? The grass roots purists, or the RNC purists? There is a deep disingenuousness among some Republicans and Freepers on these matters. Their a priori position is that their world view represents "realism," therefore any other view is invalid. They argue from presumption and castigate those who differ, while failing to understand they are as...

<p>With one day left for candidates to qualify for the Oct. 7 recall election, former Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth said Friday he would run, while actor Arnold Schwarzenegger picked up the help of former Gov. Pete Wilson and a nod from President Bush.</p>

Many California Republicans, unable to find a viable candidate to oppose Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer for a third term next year, are urging Pete Wilson to consider a comeback. Wilson is widely blamed for the party's precipitous decline in the state because of his support as governor for an anti-immigration referendum that alienated Hispanic voters. However, he has never lost a general election, winning two terms each as U.S. senator and governor after serving as mayor of San Diego and a state assemblyman.

WASHINGTON -- Howard Dean rose to the top tier of Democratic presidential candidates after collecting $7 million the past quarter, but his quick tongue got the former governor of Vermont in trouble with African-Americans. Dean was having difficulty on NBC's "Meet the Press" June 22 answering moderator Tim Russert's questions testing his knowledge of the federal government. Asking him how many troops are in active duty in the U.S. military, Dean said, is "like asking me who the ambassador to Rwanda is." Some black politicians were offended that Dean cited the U.S. envoy to an African country, whose name he...

<p>WASHINGTON - Condoleezza Rice is used to making tough policy decisions as President Bush's national security adviser. Soon she'll face a tough personal decision: whether to run for governor of California.</p> <p>Republicans in the state have been buzzing about the possibility that Rice, the former Stanford University provost who makes Silicon Valley her permanent home, may seek the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2006.</p>

Former California Gov. Pete Wilson did not dismiss the possibility that he might challenge U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer in 2004 when asked about it this week at a fund-raising event in Lake Sherwood. Wilson said he "learned a while ago never to say never" when asked Wednesday night for a reaction to speculation that he might pursue the seat. He smiled as he recalled the results of a statewide poll taken earlier this year that showed Republicans prefer him to any other party contender. Nonetheless, Wilson said he has not formed any type of a committee to look into the...