I'M YOUR BACK DOOR MAN

Cruz Bustamante becomes first prominent Democrat to announce plans to run for governor (JEREMIAH MARQUEZ, August 7, 2003, Associated Press)

Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante is gearing up to run for governor in the Oct. 7 recall election, breaking ranks with other prominent Democrats who promised to support Gov. Gray Davis and stay off the ballot.

Bustamante, the first Hispanic to hold statewide office in California in more than a century, announced late Wednesday he was taking out candidacy papers Thursday.

The announcement marked the end of a good news-bad news day for Davis in which the unpredictable recall campaign took one dramatic twist after another.

The day began with Davis getting the good news that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the state's most popular politician, had rejected days of lobbying by fellow Democrats to put her name on the ballot as an alternative in case Davis is recalled.

It continued with Arnold Schwarzenegger stunning a national audience by announcing on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" that he would run for governor after his advisers had said for days that the movie star and Republican activist had all but decided not to run.

And it ended with Bustamante abandoning what had sounded like an unequivocal pledge not to get into the race when he made it last June.

"I will not participate in any way other than to urge voters to reject this expensive perversion of the recall process," Bustamante said at the time. "I will not attempt to advance my career at the expense of the people I was elected to serve. I do not intend to put my name on that ballot."

Even a popular California Democrat would be in trouble when facing a Hispanic, a Progressive, a pornographer--three important Democratic constituencies--and a liberal Republican. Mr. Davis ain't popular.

MORE:
Arianna's Big Play: The California recall election may be a right-wing power grab, but Arianna Huffington, now officially a candidate, insists it's also a progressive opportunity. (Colleen O'Brien, August 7, 2003, Mother Jones)

Q: Aren't you worried that, by putting your name on the ballot, you will split the Democratic vote, making it easier for a Republican to win?

A: I think, on the contrary, that what is irresponsible is to simply roll the dice and assume that the recall will be defeated, which goes not just against the current polls that we have but also against any kind of rational evaluation of what may happen in the next months. Because, simply, nobody knows, nobody can sit here today and say with any certainty that the recall will be defeated. Therefore, the Democratic strategists who came up with that strategy are willing to sacrifice millions of Californians, the fate of our schools, the fate of nursing homes, of health clinics, of community centers, just because they don't want to have an alternative on the ballot.

Q: Can you describe why you're no longer a conservative and when that realization struck you?

A: Well, it wasn't one lightning moment, it was a gradual process. First of all let me say that I have always been a moderate on social issues. Even during my Republican interregnum, I was pro-gay rights, pro-choice and pro-gun control -- so the transformation has been in terms of the role of government.

In other words, having determined there was no such thing as human dignity, she realized government may as well control peoples' lives. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 7, 2003 10:28 AM