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All seem to agree recall vote is certain "If the people want me to present my credentials one more time, I have no fear of the electorate," Davis said Monday in Los Angeles. "Obviously, I'd prefer there not be another election." Davis is unlikely to get his wish. While the numbers won't be official until later this month at the earliest, the governor's opponents ended their $1.5 million signature drive Monday, confident they have enough signatures to force an election that could oust Davis from office. "Sunday was the last day we had the paid signature gatherers out," said Chris Wysocki, a spokesman for Rescue California, one of three groups looking to recall Davis. "We're actually shutting them down today, getting everything they have so we can have all the signatures turned in by Friday." Organizers said they started the recall effort because the governor misled the electorate during his re-election campaign last year on the size of the state's $38 billion budget deficit. Democrats have dismissed the effort as sour grapes over the election's outcome, but polls show the recall has been boosted by the partisan struggle over the budget, and organizers said they received a bump in support after the governor tripled the car tax to help close the deficit. The Legislature and the governor have yet to agree on a budget, which is now more than a week late. Organizers of Rescue California said they have collected about 1.1 million signatures, which now must be verified by election officials in California's 58 counties. That number, combined with an estimated 100,000 collected by other pro-recall groups, is well above the nearly 900,000 signatures needed to force the special election. SIGNED PETITIONS STILL ARRIVING Signed recall petitions are still arriving at the group's Sacramento headquarters, where 16 trays of mail, containing an estimated 20,000 signatures, were waiting to be processed Monday. "We'll keep processing those petitions until the day the recall drive qualifies," Wysocki said. While 31 attempts have been made to recall a California governor, none has ever made the ballot. But in recent days, Democratic leaders have moved from an airy dismissal of the recall effort's chances to making plans for an all- out political war. Now virtually every California political expert thinks the Davis recall will go to the voters. "Absolutely, we're ready for an election, bring it on," said Bob Mulholland, a consultant for the California Democratic Party. Davis and other Democrats originally brushed off the recall drive. But when Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista (San Diego County), pumped $1.28 million of his own money into the signature-gathering effort, the governor's backers starting thinking about an election plan. "Now that it looks like they're going to be getting a million signatures, the governor, as the quarterback, is back on the field," Mulholland said. "It doesn't matter which Republicans are out there, they'll lose." Under California law, a recall is a two-part ballot. First, voters will have to decide whether Davis should be removed from office. Then, all choose from a list of candidates to replace the governor. If a majority of voters agrees to keep Davis as governor, the vote for a replacement is ignored. But if Davis is recalled, the top vote-getter on the list of would-be governors wins, regardless of party affiliation or percentage of the vote. So far, leading Democrats have promised to stay out of recall vote, which would leave only Republicans, independents and minor party candidates as alternatives to Davis.
"It's going to be a united Democratic Party against
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