Historic California Elections- a climactic end to a circus-like campaign APA NEWS (Asian Pacific American) Nov/Dec 2003 - Volume 2 Issue No. 1 San Jose, CA: The people of California have spoken strongly but with mixed messages. Tuesday, October 7th, 2003 signaled a climactic ending to a short, brief and historic recall election in California, with the winner, an actor with no political experience. Only in America and only in California or rather Kali-fohr-nia – as it should now be called, at least for the term of the incoming Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The people showed their frustration with current state of affairs and demonstrated the “throw the incumbents out” attitude. Even registered Democrats and Women- who were supposedly safe vote banks for Gov. Grey Davis and the Democratic party- crossed lines to vote for moderate Republican (pro choice, moderate) candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger 3,847,468 (48.7%); while the nearest candidate Cruz M. Bustamante (D) got 2,499,124 (31.7%) . The overall “Yes to recall” garnered 4,531,880 votes (55.4%), while “No to Recall” drew 3,660,568 (44.6%).
The circus-like atmosphere to the recall elections was helped by high profile candidate Arnold announcing his candidacy, on national TV (Jay Leno show), with several of his key aides surprised by the announcement. Add to it a bevy of over 135 certified candidates, each putting in $3,500 required for filing papers! The colorful candidates include Pornography publisher Larry Flynt (15,860 votes), porn-movie star Mary Cook (10,301 votes), Ex-Child actor Gary Coleman (12,988 votes) and a bevy of other not so-serious candidates!
In terms of cost to the state, estimates are over $60 Million just to conduct the elections- at a time when the state is facing ballooning deficits. Many analysts predict a short honeymoon for Gov. Arnold. Although with a fresh start and acknowledged inexperience, the transition team appointed by Gov Arnold has already shown a broad spectrum of potential troubleshooters.
The 68-people transition team named by Gov. elect Arnold on Oct 10,2003, include experienced people from diverse backgrounds like Republican Bill Simon, SF Mayor Willie Brown, a Democrat and ex speaker of California assembly, Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, Gerry Parsky, President Bush's top California adviser and Susan Estrich, who ran Democrat Michael Dukakis' 1988 presidential campaign etc..
While some people may exclaim that Californians deserve what they voted for- for most Californians, this was the only choice for hope and the future, as opposed to the status-quo. And Who knows? as they say- the Way California goes, soon so does the rest of the country. This historic recall elections and message must have surely resounded in the hallways of the National Democratic party and the GOP- all gearing up for the Presidential elections in 2004.
http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/elections.htm
Sam Rao
Contributing Writer APA NEWS (Asian Pacific American) Nov/Dec 2003 - Volume 2 Issue No. 1