Seeing a race in the paper

S.J. CAHN

There are two sure-fire ways for me to know political races are

edging into either their final moments or a crucial point (in other

words, when folks start dropping out).

One is the proliferation of lengthy responses to this column. And

my giving former Assemblyman Gil Ferguson a forum last week to press

his support for state Sen. Tom McClintock in the recall race led to

just that.

The numbers were about evenly split, though those who think

McClintock has no shot and needs to move out of Arnold’s way were a

bit more wordy than their Tom-supporting counterparts.

Their time commitment to their e-mails may have been more a

reaction to Ferguson, who has a way of upsetting even those within

the Republican Party. His brand of “sticking to conservative

principles” politics often gets this response: That’s why Republicans

keep losing in California.

The second key way of knowing spits out the fax machine. Not only

does the Daily Pilot receive regular updates from recall candidates

(Peter Ueberroth’s have stopped, while McClintock’s have increased

since Ferguson talked him up in these pages), but even a few

Democratic presidential candidates have us on their fax machine.

For what it’s worth in judging the strengths of the candidates

this early in the primary: Sen. John Edwards has dramatically

increased his releases, at least to a small newspaper in a

conservative area about 3,000 miles from his home state of North

Carolina.

Most interestingly, though, has been the sudden bump in releases

from one particular office in Sacramento: the Office of the Governor.

In the past week, releases from Gov. Gray Davis have been a

regular piece of the clutter that spews out of the machine attached

to (949) 646-4170. We’ve heard about a whole host of legislation,

only some of it “landmark”: protecting foster children from

discrimination; protecting tenants’ security deposits; protecting

First Amendment rights and ending frivolous lawsuits.

The increase means, one supposes, that Davis does finally get it:

He knows he’s in trouble and is working to pull himself out of the

hole.

Only it’s awfully deep and awfully late to start climbing.

TWO YEARS LATER

Finally, I would be wrong not to mention the date: Sept. 11.

Two years ago, much changed in America. But political signs lately

suggest much has changed back. The old tried and true campaign issues

-- the economy, education, Social Security -- are the ones voters are

concerned about. National security, according to polls and interviews

following the August Congressional recess, is far down the list.

That certainly could change if another unthinkable tragedy

occurred. But it is comforting to know that the country was not

irrevocably altered by the attacks of Sept. 11. Like the tree that

survives a hurricane by bending in the wind, this country and its

citizens seem to have remained rooted.

* S.J. CAHN is the managing editor. He can be reached at (949)

574-4233 or by e-mail at s.j.cahn@latimes.com.