RECALL ROUNDUP….For California readers, here’s the latest on the recall:
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Justene Adamec links to California Insider, who reports that Arnold is definitely not running.
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A New York Times op-ed (and why do I have to read the New York Times to find this out?) points out something interesting. There are two questions on the recall ballot:
First, do you want to recall Governor Davis? Second, assuming a majority of voters support the recall, whom do you want elected in his place?
By law, only voters who answer the first question can have their vote for a candidate in the recall election counted. Those who would prefer not to vote on the merits of the recall face a dilemma: they must either vote on the first question against their will, or forgo their chance to vote for a candidate.
The authors suggest that this is unconstitutional, something that I’ll have to defer to Eugene Volokh about, I suppose, but it does seem odd, doesn’t it? In any case, it’s good to know.
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On a lighter note, New York Times reporter Charlie LeDuff went the extra mile and tried to contact Californians who happened to be named Gray Davis and Bill Simon to find out if they were planning to run:
Consider this possibility: If voters choose to remove Mr. Davis, the second question on the ballot asks for his replacement. Governor Davis may not appear on that part of the ballot, by virtue of the state Constitution.
But this does not prevent Gray Davis ? not the governor, but a private citizen from Contra Costa County ? from doing so. He could, by advantage of his shared name with the Democratic incumbent and the mass confusion his candidacy would cause, find himself the governor-elect on Oct. 8. Mr. Davis, the citizen, was away on business and could not be reached for comment on any political aspirations.
Bill Simon, the corporate recruiter from central Los Angeles and a Democrat, could pull votes away from Mr. Simon, the Republican millionaire from west Los Angeles who was the loser in the last race for governor, through simple slight of name. Not that he would. He does not support the recall effort.
“I may or may not be a huge fan of Gray Davis, but that’s not the point,” says Mr. Simon, a Democrat who worked as deputy staff secretary to President Jimmy Carter. “Six months from now, does someone go out and spend another million to throw this election out? That’s not how the Republic was built.”
Now that’s good journalism.
Next up: with Arnold out, will Richard Riordan run?
Or how about me? All I need is either (a) 100 people to chip in $35 apiece or (b) 100 people to collect 150 signatures apiece. But before anybody gets started on this, my first order of business to to change my name to Arnold Schwarzenegger….
