Democrats Squabble, GOP Field Narrows

Sunday

* Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante charges Gov. Gray Davis with undermining his campaign.

“If he worked with me a little bit more, I think we could make sure ... that the Democratic Party kept ahold of this position,” Bustamante says on “Meet the Press.” “If some of the governor’s minions would stop trying to undercut my efforts ... we have the possibility of having a win-win position on the ballot.”

Bustamante campaign manager Richard Ross says potential “significant donors” have been dissuaded by the Davis campaign from giving money. A spokesman for the Davis campaign says the charge is “just not true.”

* Bill Simon Jr., the GOP candidate for governor last year, launches an advertising campaign criticizing fellow Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger over the comment of his advisor Warren E. Buffett who told the Wall Street Journal that the state’s property taxes are too low.

“Arnold Schwarzenegger’s team wants to triple our property taxes,” Simon says in the ad. “Which just goes to show you: Don’t send a liberal to do a tax fighter’s job.”

The actor’s campaign dismisses the ad as a distortion. “You’d think Bill Simon would know better than anyone else that it’s not kind to distort people’s position in a campaign ad, since that’s what Gray Davis did to him last year,” spokesman Rob Stutzman says.

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Monday

* Bustamante gains ground in his campaign as the Legislature’s Latino caucus and a union representing state workers endorse him.

Sen. Barbara Boxer adds more encouragement for Bustamante, indicating she will be “very involved” in the lieutenant governor’s “No on the Recall, Yes on Bustamante” campaign.

* Struggling to maintain a unified front among Democratic mainstays, Davis prepares for an address Tuesday to confront the roots of his unpopularity and defend his performance as governor.

* Schwarzenegger readies a 60-second television spot. A strategist says the campaign will buy more than $1 million in broadcast time, enough to ensure that the average California TV viewer sees the commercial several times.

* A federal judge in San Jose delays until Wednesday his ruling on whether to postpone the recall election until March. The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California is seeking to block the use of punch-card voting machines in Los Angeles and other urban counties. The machines are scheduled to be replaced by next year’s statewide primary.

* Simon reacts to suggestions that he drop out of the race, saying, instead, that Schwarzenegger, the GOP front-runner, should “step out from behind the curtain” and state his views on the issues.

Asked on ABC radio if the Republican Party should unite behind one candidate, Simon rises in irritation:

“We don’t know where Mr. Schwarzenegger stands. We haven’t heard a word out of Mr. Schwarzenegger. We don’t know -- no, let me finish -- we don’t know where Arianna Huffington stands. For all we know, she’s a Democrat. We don’t know where Peter Ueberroth stands. You know, he’s probably a Democrat. So when you say the Democrats have one candidate, I would disagree with you. I actually think the Democrats have a couple of candidates.”

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Tuesday

* In a live televised speech, Davis attacks the recall as a “right-wing power grab” that would do “lasting damage to our state, our environment and the very fabric of our democracy.”

He concedes that he has made mistakes -- being too slow to respond to the energy crisis and not tough enough in controlling state spending when the treasury was flush. But he also blames other causes for the state’s problems, including a national recession, greedy energy companies and uncompromising Republican legislators.

In the speech, Davis also points to some things that have gone well under his leadership. He cites rising public school test scores and his record of cleaning up air and water and protecting the Pacific Coast.

Opponents dismiss the attempt to cast himself as a victim. “The Republicans did not fix the polls that showed he was at 22% approval,” Green Party candidate Peter Camejo says.

* Bustamante proposes an economic plan that would rely on an $8-billion tax increase.

The lieutenant governor says he would raise taxes on business and the wealthy and reduce vehicle license fees.

Calling his plan “Tough Love for California,” he proposes to increase taxes on the income of the state’s top earners and on commercial property, requiring a constitutional change to Proposition 13. His plan would also add $1.50 per pack to the cigarette tax and 25 cents per gallon to alcohol taxes.

With higher tax increases than the original budget proposed by Davis in January, the proposal has little chance of passing the Legislature, analysts say.

* In his first campaign appearance, Orange County businessman Peter Ueberroth unveils a budget proposal relying on a tax amnesty he says could raise up to $6 billion. He also proposes a 5% cut in all general fund spending except education, renegotiated state labor contracts and an assault on fraud in the Medi-Cal system. He vows to leave Proposition 13 intact.

“The state would fall off into the Pacific if you start messing with that,” he tells reporters.

* Schwarzenegger’s ad debuts, showing the actor in a blue blazer and open-necked white shirt.

“We the people are doing our job: working hard, raising our families and paying taxes,” he says. “But the politicians are not doing their job. We can do better than that.... I am running for governor to lead a movement for change and give California back its future.”

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Wednesday

* Schwarzenegger sketches the outlines of a plan for billions of dollars in spending cuts with no new taxes, the most detailed comments about his economic plans to date. He says an earthquake or other disaster could strike California, so “you can never say never” to new taxes. He also refuses to specify spending cuts, saying only that they would be extensive. Schwarzenegger portrays himself as an honest outsider well suited to challenge what he implies is a rotten Sacramento culture that has left the state’s finances a shambles. “What the people want to hear is: Are you willing to make the changes?” Schwarzenegger says, dismissing calls for specifics. “Are you tough enough to go in there and provide leadership? That’s what this is about. And I will be tough enough. And independent. I can go up there and really clean house.”

Democrats say his plans still lack specifics.

State Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco) says: “He doesn’t know anything about the budget; that’s the problem.”

* Twenty-nine television cameras, dozens of still photographers and scores of print journalists are on hand for Schwarzenegger’s economic summit.

* A federal judge rules that the October gubernatorial recall election can go forward as planned, despite the use of outdated punch-card ballots in six of California’s counties. With his decision, U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson strikes down a lawsuit filed by the ACLU and several other civil rights groups, which sought to delay the election until March, when the counties that use punch-card ballots are set to have new voting machines.*

Thursday

* Key Democrats rally behind the backup candidacy of Bustamante to hedge against losing power in Sacramento. Bustamante picks up several major endorsements, including the backing of the state’s Democratic congressional delegation and a vote of support from the powerful California Teachers Assn. Both groups also urge a “no” vote on the effort to oust Davis.

“We strongly oppose the recall,” says Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose), head of the Democratic congressional delegation. “But if California voters make a different choice, then Lt. Gov. Bustamante is the appropriate person to assume the office.”

* Davis, meanwhile, seems to be edging closer to backing Bustamante as a backup in case the recall wins. “Cruz Bustamante is a good and decent person, and I believe his involvement in the race will bring out more voters who will vote against the recall,” Davis says. “I know some of my aides were of a different view initially. But I believe the excitement of his candidacy will actually attract more people to polls who will vote ‘no.’ ”

* Talk continues about trying to clear the Republican field for Schwarzenegger, but none of his rivals seems ready to step aside. “It’s up to the voters to make a selection based upon the candidates that have presented themselves,” says state Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), who is running for governor.

GOP candidate Simon, who has been dogged by questions about his possibly dropping out of the race, says he is in to stay.

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Friday

* A Los Angeles Times poll finds that voters are closely divided over whether to recall Davis. They are concerned that the election might result in confusion and spawn future attempts at political payback, the survey finds. Democrats are overwhelmingly negative in their assessments of the recall process, while Republicans view the Oct. 7 vote in largely positive terms. But Republicans appear much more energized by the off-year election, meaning they are more likely to vote. At the same time, the governor has the support of just three in four of his fellow Democrats. Eighty-three percent of Republicans favor his recall.

“I don’t think that’s the way government ought to be run,” says Andrew Culbreath, a 70-year-old Panorama City retiree and Democrat. “The recall is for cases of malfeasance or misuse of office. I don’t think it should be used because you disagree with their policies.”

* Schwarzenegger visits Orange County to meet with small-business owners. But hundreds of fans flock to see him, forcing the shutdown of Main Street in Huntington Beach. Onlookers chant his name, cheer his few pronouncements and strain to get snapshots over a phalanx of TV cameras. His comments, however, do not include specific positions on issues.

“He sounds honest and good to me,” Johnny Kissel, a 36-year-old surfer and bartender, says as the candidate’s parade passes nearby. “He is talking about kids and doing things to really help us.... I don’t usually vote, but you can bet I will this time.”

* Some Republicans increase pressure on McClintock and Simon to get out of the race.

“People have got to overcome their ego now and look at reality if [Republicans] are going to accomplish anything,” says Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach).

* Davis courts the Latino vote in talks with Latino business leaders. He cites portions of his record to the audience of 550 business leaders at the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s annual convention, reminding them, for example, that he approved the nation’s first paid state holiday honoring Cesar Chavez.

Bustamante and commentator Arianna Huffington also target Latino voters. Bustamante is scheduled to appear at an awards show hosted by Spanish-language television personality Cristina in San Diego on Friday evening. Huffington meets with a group of 50 Latinas in Los Angeles and tells them that women’s issues will be central to her campaign.

“I am determined to represent women -- immigrant women, Anglo women,” Huffington says, “because their concerns are central to what should be the policy priorities in Sacramento.”

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Saturday

* Simon withdraws from the race, saying that there were too many Republicans on the ballot and that he didn’t want to jeopardize the party’s opportunity to replace Davis if he was recalled.