Rescue California

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Only recalled governor faced plight similar to Davis'

June 21, 2003

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special election.

But the 1921 campaign was as nasty as one might expect a California recall to get: Republicans said Frazier's party wanted to abolish marriage and promote free love. Frazier's supporters said Republicans were the puppets of Wall Street and big-grain companies.

"It was a very harsh campaign," Danbom said. "There were these attacks on (Frazier's party) for lack of patriotism, and charges that they were associated with socialism and Bolshevism."

On election day, about 70 percent of eligible North Dakota voters cast ballots – a huge turnout by today's standards. Frazer received 107,300 votes, or 49 percent, and Nestos received 111,400 votes, or 51 percent.

Frazier was out of a job.

"(The recall) succeeded in part because recalls were new," Sabato said, noting that the recall concept caught on in the early 1900s. "People were itching to pull the trigger, to try it once. And it happened in North Dakota."

Other efforts to recall governors have fallen short. In 1988, Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham was impeached before a recall campaign against him could succeed. Louisiana Gov. Huey Long was impeached in 1920, but the charges were later dropped. Democratic Govs. Otto Kerner of Illinois and Ray Blanton of Tennessee were convicted on corruption charges after they had served their terms.

In North Dakota, however, recall wasn't the end for Frazier. The year after the recall, voters elected him to the U.S. Senate, where he served three terms.