*ISSA OUT: Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, who spent $1.7 million of his own money bankrolling the signature drive for a special election on whether to recall California Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, surprised supporters last week by abruptly dropping out of the race to replace Davis.
Issa made his emotional announcement the morning after actor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced on NBC’s "Tonight Show" that he would be running. "It has nothing to do with Schwarzenegger’s decision, other than I needed to know that there were several strong candidates," said Issa. "Once it was possible to not have to be the face of the recall, not have to be the candidate if no one else would lead, I now have the opportunity to choose between two directions. One is my service in Washington, the other was what many people assumed was blind ambition."
*McCLINTOCK IN: Undaunted by Schwarzenegger’s entry, Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock of Ventura moved forward with his own campaign to replace Davis. McClintock says if he is elected he will do three things on his first day as governor: rescind Davis’s tripling of the state car tax, void $42 billion in overpriced state electricity contracts, and instruct the legislature to begin rewriting the state’s bloated workers compensation requirements (see cover story).
McClintock could quickly emerge as the conservative favorite in the race. He was first elected to the state legislature in 1982 at the age of 26, and has been in the forefront of Republican causes in California ever since then. Conservative on both social and economic issues, he is particularly known for his mastery of fiscal policy and his commitment to limited government.
*SIMON, TOO: Conservative businessman Bill Simon, the Republican candidate who narrowly lost to Davis in the gubernatorial race last November, also filed papers and was set to announce his candidacy on August 9. Political consultant K.B. Forbes, who is working with Simon, told reporters: "The team’s ready."
*BUSTAMANTE BUSTS OUT: Davis’s strategy of keeping all other Democrats out of the recall campaign collapsed in the wake of Schwarzenegger’s announcement. The next morning, Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante announced that he was jumping into the race.
But Bustamante put a Clintonesque spin on his declaration: He’s running, but he’s not inhaling. "I’m here to tell everyone to vote no on the recall and yes on Bustamante," he said. "We are going to fight like hell against the recall." The lieutenant governor made his announcement in both Spanish and English.
*‘MORE LIKE A CARNIVAL’: Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, meanwhile, who many considered her party’s best shot at retaining the governorship, announced that she would definitely not run. In doing so, she said the recall was becoming "more and more like a carnival every day."
Among the lesser candidates who will perform the sideshows in this carnival: Arianna Huffington, who is waging war against Sport Utility Vehicles, and Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler magazine.
*TICKET TO NOWHERE: Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, running for President, spent a second straight week trying to warn his party away from lurching ever further to the left with former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.
"A candidate who was opposed to the war against Saddam, who has called for the repeal of all of the Bush tax cuts-which would result in tax increases on the middle class-I believe will not offer the kind of leadership America needs to meet the challenges that we face today," Lieberman said August 4 at the National Press Club. "I believe that kind of candidate could lead the Democratic Party into the political wilderness for a long time to come. It could be, really, a ticket to nowhere."
*VEEP OR CREEP? When Democrats first started campaigning for their party’s 2004 presidential nomination, many thought Sen. Bob Graham of Florida (then seen as a relative moderate from a key state) was ideally positioned to become the Democratic vice presidential nominee. But weeks of bashing President Bush and questioning his integrity on the Iraq War have cost Graham a sizable chunk of his popularity in his home state. A Mason-Dixon poll published last week showed that Graham’s approval rating in Florida has dropped to a record low of 47%. If the Democrats were to actually nominate Graham for President, Bush would beat him in Florida 51% to 39%.
