Week Finds the Race Getting Tighter

Monday

* Arnold Schwarzenegger held his first question-and-answer forum with voters and promised to go “up and down the state” to hold similar meetings -- part of a shift in tactics that has had him addressing issues and the electorate more directly. The audience, however, was carefully selected and the questioners picked in advance.

At Chapman University in Orange, Schwarzenegger delved into more specifics and appeared to be striving to appeal to conservatives. He made his strongest statements to date against a bill recently signed by Gov. Gray Davis that will allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses. “We are leaving ourselves wide open to terrorism,” Schwarzenegger told the forum. “Anyone can go get a driver’s license without a criminal background check.”

* After a three-week investigation, officials at the Simon Wiesenthal Center said they had found no evidence linking Schwarzenegger’s father to Nazi war crimes. Gustav Schwarzenegger was a Nazi Party member who served with the Sturmabteilungen (SA) paramilitary unit, known as storm troopers, according to recently released documents. But records in Austria, Germany and the United States do not implicate the elder Schwarzenegger or his SA unit 521 in wartime atrocities, said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the Wiesenthal Center.

* In her first campaign swing, Maria Shriver, Schwarzenegger’s wife, appeared at a voter-registration booth at a suburban Wal-Mart outside Sacramento. As Shriver chatted briefly with people filling out voter-registration forms outside the garden center of the Natomas Wal-Mart, booming chants of “No recall!” from about 100 union members drowned out the cries of “Ar-nold!” from a much smaller band of Schwarzenegger supporters, and Shriver cut her appearance short. Shriver appeared to take the mixed reception in stride. “I think it’s great when people exercise their voice, whatever it is,” Shriver told reporters, her words barely audible above the shouts. “I hope that the 13 million people that sat out the last election will come out. That’s a great thing for California, no matter who wins. I don’t view it as anti-Arnold. I don’t take that personally at all.”

* Eager to portray Davis as a negative campaigner, Schwarzenegger’s campaign demanded an apology from the governor for joking about the actor’s Austrian accent. The Sacramento Bee reported that, at a recent union rally, while shaking hands with people in the crowd, Davis had told a voter, “You shouldn’t be governor unless you can pronounce the name of the state.”

Tuesday

* Former sports czar Peter V. Ueberroth ended his bid to become California’s next governor. Although he is a Republican, Ueberroth was running as a centrist with bipartisan appeal, and the top three remaining candidates moved quickly to claim his supporters. Given Ueberroth’s relatively low standing in the polls, “I wouldn’t guess that it will have a huge impact, frankly,” said Walter Stone, chairman of the UC Davis political science department. While it was unclear where Ueberroth’s supporters might go, “there just aren’t enough of them to make a huge difference.”

Data from the Field Poll suggested that Ueberroth’s supporters would split almost evenly among Bustamante, Schwarzenegger and state Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks). What could be more significant is whom Ueberroth endorses. He declined Tuesday to back any of his competitors, saying he intended to meet with the main contenders to find out who would best push his agenda to resolve the state’s budget crisis through job creation.

* Bustamante, Arianna Huffington and Peter Camejo took part in a recall debate in Los Angeles.

Though he skipped the forum, Davis came in for sustained attacks during the 90-minute debate in downtown Los Angeles, where the candidates sent both direct and nuanced messages to voters. Camejo, the Green Party candidate, repeatedly praised Bustamante, defending him at one point on his use of campaign donations from Indian tribes -- an issue that has become a liability for Bustamante’s campaign.

“I do believe that there is a difference between Cruz Bustamante and Gov. Davis,” Camejo said. “I think this man is much more open. It is possible to try to work with him.” Bustamante, for his part, used none of his time to persuade voters to keep Davis on the job. Bustamante has said that he opposes the recall and is running as a Democratic alternative in case Davis is ousted. In recent days, however, he has de-emphasized the “no on the recall” part of his message.

* The state Senate, with backing from several Democrats, passed a motion calling on the governor to apologize for his jibe at Schwarzenegger’s accent.

* Los Angeles County’s top election official said she was counting on signs, maps and better staffing at polling booths to guide voters through election day. Because preparations for the election to recall Davis have been extraordinarily rushed, Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Conny McCormack consolidated about 4,900 regular precincts into just 1,786 for the recall. To compensate for the loss of polling places, McCormack beefed up the numbers of poll workers and voting booths planned for each precinct. “We’re actually in very good shape right now,” McCormack said. “People want to work this election. It’s an exciting election, so we’re not having the cancellations we normally get.”

* A proposed amendment to the state Constitution would change the way California handles recall elections, increasing the number of signatures that recall-seeking petitioners must obtain and automatically replacing a recalled governor with the lieutenant governor. Assembly Constitutional Amendment 20 was introduced by Assemblyman Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles). The proposed amendment would not apply to the current recall election.

Wednesday

* With Ueberroth out of the race, Republicans focused on whether they could unite behind one candidate. Under pressure to withdraw in favor of Schwarzenegger, McClintock repeatedly vowed to stay in the race. “This is what I do and this is what I care about,” he said. “Any opportunity I have to discuss the future direction of California and the plans I want to see enacted, I’m just delighted to take every opportunity I can.” He pointed to his improvement in the polls and suggested that he was the Republican with the best chance. “When I got in this race, I was a mere asterisk behind even Peter Camejo in the Green Party,” he said. “And in the span of just three or four weeks I’ve moved into a very solid third-place position, in double digits, with all the momentum on my side.” McClintock repeated his criticisms that Schwarzenegger is not a true conservative.

* Schwarzenegger unveiled a team of education advisors that includes classroom teachers, district superintendents and his own mother-in-law, Eunice Shriver, and vowed to give local officials more control over schooling. After a meeting of nearly two hours with the 24-member panel, which is headed by former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, Schwarzenegger told reporters that he wanted to reduce federal and state involvement in education and return more “local control” to the schools. He declined to identify specific areas of over-regulation, though an advisor cited restrictions on teacher hiring and scheduling as examples. “There’s a philosophic difference” with Davis, Schwarzenegger said. “He thinks Sacramento should say down to the schools what to do.”

* Huffington campaigned at Cal State Northridge, part of a weeklong tour of college campuses. She announced that she would launch a statewide petition drive to enact public financing of political campaigns. More than 500 students turned out to see her.

Huffington pledged that, if elected governor, she would roll back the recent 30% increase in state university fees. The state “gave raises to prison guards, just because they gave over $3 million to Gray Davis and you didn’t,” Huffington told the crowd. “Why didn’t you? You would’ve gotten tuition decreases if you had given $3 million to Gray Davis! That’s how the game is played. We need to change that.”

* Davis apologized for poking fun at Schwarzenegger’s accent. “It was a poor joke. I shouldn’t have done it,” Davis said in a radio interview. “I’m doing this because I feel so strongly that this is a state that welcomes all people,” he said.

* Schwarzenegger and his wife confirmed a scheduled appearance on Oprah Winfrey’s season premiere Monday. Winfrey, who met Shriver when both worked on television in Baltimore earlier in their careers, has been a friend of the couple for more than two decades. The appearance is part of a strategy to win over more women voters, in the face of criticism over Schwarzenegger’s past remarks and accusations of boorish behavior toward women. The national talk show, “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” reaches about 1 million viewers in California, a spokeswoman for the program said. About 86% of them are women.

Thursday

* A new Los Angeles Times Poll found that likely voters were almost evenly split on whether to recall Davis, with 50% favoring his ouster and 47% opposed. Just just 3% were undecided. The Democratic governor remained unpopular, but his standing had improved: While 63% of likely voters disapproved of his job performance, that figure was down from 72% in last month’s poll.

* The poll found that Bustamante retained a narrow lead, with 30% compared with Schwarzenegger with 25%. McClintock stood at 18%. McClintock had gained ground since August, when he drew support from 12% of likely voters. Schwarzenegger’s support ticked upward three percentage points, from 22%. Bustamante dropped five points. All of the shifts, however, were near or within the poll’s margin of sampling error, plus or minus three percentage points. The poll also found troubles emerging for Bustamante as voters learned more about him. His unfavorable rating surged from 29% in the August poll to 50% in the new one.

Huffington was the favorite of 3% of likely voters, followed by Camejo with 2%.

* Three federal appellate judges expressed skepticism that the Oct. 7 recall election could be conducted properly, using punch-card voting machines in Los Angeles and other urban counties. The state already had conceded that the machines are error-prone and antiquated. Under a court order, they are to be taken out of use next March. However, voting officials have said there is no time to replace them before the scheduled recall election. “So we have to accept the unacceptable -- is that what you are saying?” Judge Harry Pregerson of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals asked Deputy Atty. Gen. Douglas J. Woods, representing California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley.

Friday

* Schwarzenegger accused Davis of reversing his position on granting driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants to curry favor with voters. “He makes his decisions based just on that to get reelected,” Schwarzenegger told about 250 invited guests assembled at a downtown hotel for the second of his “Ask Arnold” forums. “In the meantime, the people will suffer.” Schwarzenegger said that, if elected, he would immediately work to overturn the new law. A Davis spokesman cited law enforcement support for the driver’s license measure and accused Schwarzenegger of using the issue to appeal to conservative voters.

* Republican officials who had assembled for the convention at a Los Angeles airport hotel said there was growing consternation about having two prominent candidates in the race. While the party’s bylaws do not permit a formal endorsement by the state party, some GOP leaders said the executive board could skirt that rule. “My gut feeling is, we will unite behind one candidate, because if we don’t, we will look wishy-washy,” said Jane Parsons, chairwoman of the Fresno County Republican Party. “The voters are looking to us to take some leadership. The party has to unify behind one person or we will lose.”

* Democrats prepared for their own convention. Delegates at the meeting in Los Angeles were expected to once again denounce the attempt to remove Davis from office. Nearly all party leaders also had agreed to back Bustamante, adopting a “no on the recall/yes on Bustamante” strategy. But with polls indicating a tight race in the recall of the governor as well as on the ballot for his potential replacements, Democrats went into the meeting divided on the best strategy for spending money and allocating resources in the final weeks.

* Bustamante made an unannounced swing to Chicago, where aides said he hoped to raise about $150,000 during a series of fund-raisers. While in town, Bustamante exchanged endorsements with Gery Chico, a former Chicago School Board member running for U.S. Senate. During a news conference with Chico, Bustamante reiterated his support for an amnesty program to grant citizenship to illegal immigrants. “They are here putting food on our tables, making our beds,” Bustamante said. “If they are staying out of trouble, they are going to have a pathway to citizenship.” Later, the lieutenant governor delivered an address before about 200 people at the Navy Pier to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Hispanic Democratic Organization, a political group that supports Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.

* Davis said he believed public sentiment was turning in his favor as he made his case for Californians to keep him in office. He credited a series of town hall meetings he has held across the state. “I think that is helping us turn the tide,” Davis said during a news conference outside Los Angeles City Hall.

Davis said he expected to get more of a boost in coming days as former President Clinton and other top Democratic officials hit the campaign trail with him.