CARRY ON, MR. DAVIS

Labor's feeling chill on Davis: Leaders may back replacement if governor's chances look dim. (Aurelio Rojas, August 14, 2003, Sacramento Bee)

Labor leaders who have been Gov. Gray Davis' staunchest allies are having reservations about his ability to survive a recall election and will consider their options at an Aug. 26 convention that could decide his fate.

Those options could include supporting a replacement candidate on the Oct. 7 ballot, which will have 135 names. [...]

Miguel Contreras, executive secretary of the 800,000-member Los Angeles federation, said labor officials are awaiting results of their latest polling.

"But if the polling comes back and says (Davis) is hopeless, then we have to figure out if our resources would be best spent promoting a candidate," Contreras said. [...]

"You don't win elections in Los Angeles without Miguel Contreras," Davis' wife, Sharon, said at the Los Angeles barbecue.

"If labor bolts on (Davis), he's dead meat," said Barbara O'Connor, director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and the Media at California State University, Sacramento.

Labor was the largest donor to Davis' re-election campaign last year, for which he raised a total of $78 million. The governor is reportedly seeking an additional $10 million from labor for the recall campaign.

O'Connor said the campaign will also rely heavily on "organized constituents" to turn out their voters and that a mixed message could impede that effort.

"It's very difficult, rhetorically, to say, 'We're really adamantly against this recall, but if you feel you must vote against us, we need to be prepared,' " O'Connor said.

If union officials shift to a backup candidate, O'Connor said, "I would view that as a tacit admission that the governor had gone down (in the polls), and then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."

It's really just a question at this point of how Gray Davis goes down: meekly, supporting Cruz Bustamante, or fighting and trying to take other folks down with him. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 15, 2003 1:05 AM