GRAY TRIES TO DO FOR CA WHAT CLINTON DID FOR AMERICA--SHRINK THE PARTY:

More Californians declining party affiliation (Zachary Coile, October 4, 2003, San Francisco Chronicle)

More Californians are registered to vote for the recall election than were registered last November when Gov. Gray Davis won re-election -- but unfortunately for the incumbent Democrat, far fewer of them are Democrats.

The Democratic Party lost nearly a full percentage point in registration in the last year -- dropping from 44.6 percent to 43.7 percent of the state's electorate -- as more Californians choose to become "decline-to-state" or independent voters, according to new figures released Friday by the secretary of state's office.

The Republican Party also saw a slight increase in registration -- from 35.2 percent to 35.3 percent -- but in a state the size of California, that translates to about 50,000 new voters.

Only three days left to enter THE 1ST ANNUAL BROTHERS JUDD CALIFORNIA RECALL PROGNOSTATHON:

Here's the deal:

You pick the %'s of the "Yes" and "No" votes; the % of the vote that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Cruz Bustamante will each get; and, as a tie breaker, the % of eligible voters who will turn out on October 7th.

We'll award whoever comes closest a copy of the magnificent new Illustrated version of James M. McPherson's Pulitzer-winning Battle Cry of Freedom and the runner-up a hot--off-the-presses paperback copy of Rick Atkinson's Pulitzer-winning Army at Dawn (both courtesy of our friends at FSB Associates).

Please go to this page to enter your picks.

Here are the results so far

MORE:
-3 More Women Allege Misconduct: In all, 11 women have said Schwarzenegger touched them without their consent. The candidate denies new allegations. (Tracy Weber, Sue Fox and Megan Garvey, October 4, 2003, LA Times)
Bustamante's 'Polaroid Tour' not always a pretty picture : 'Just-in-case' candidate may be seen as just a scapegoat (Mark Martin, October 4, 2003, San Francisco Chronicle)

Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante blitzed across the state Friday, declaring the recall race a dead heat even as public polls showed him floundering and Democratic insiders sniped that he has tarnished his future political career by running a mistake-prone campaign.

Heading into the final weekend before the election, sources said Bustamante was being pressured by some Democratic contributors to abandon his bid to be governor in favor of campaigning solely against the recall.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 4, 2003 7:41 AM