 |
 -0 |
 |
|
||||||||
 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
 |
|
California Democrats conflicted If the recall succeeds, it would be a political coup and no small measure of revenge for a Republican Party that was thoroughly embarrassed last November, when Democrats swept all statewide offices. Recall campaigns have been launched against every governor since Edmund G. Brown about four decades ago, but none has ever made it on the ballot. Many Democrats concede that a recall election seems likely. State party officials are already in campaign mode to thwart Republican efforts to remove Davis from office. Democrats launched a competing petition drive asking people to reject the recall, but it is essentially a grass-roots publicity campaign. Davis supporters have established a campaign committee. With the state's top Democrats unwilling to throw their hats into a recall campaign, the party is showing surprising discipline, analysts say. ''We are going to defend the governor,'' said former state senator Art Torres, chairman of the state Democratic Party. ''To place another Democrat [on a recall ballot] doesn't make sense.'' If no Democrat decides to run, the party risks losing the governor's post. Torres and others will be hoping that the voters embrace Davis again. To be sure, there are lots of voters loyal to Davis. ''I'm going to stick with him,'' said Ellen Malinowski, a Davis supporter from San Francisco. Added Sal Mariscal, a window installer and San Francisco Democrat: ''I read the newspaper every day, and they're blaming everything on him. There's nobody who can run the state better.''
This story ran on page A3 of the Boston Globe on 6/26/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
|
|
|
