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Davis, Fighting Recall, Is Ready to Stump Against 'Right Wing' The governor's advisers say they intend to shift the focus away from Mr. Davis's personality and his record to what they characterize as the "right wing" agenda of the recall proponents and the high cost of the election at a time when the state faces a $38 billion deficit. His aides say they will use television advertising, telephone banks and mass mailings supported by liberal interest groups and unions to send a message that the state cannot afford the risk of overturning an election and putting the state in the hands of a novice politician with views out of step with those of most Californians. The national Democratic Party has pledged its full support to defeating the recall. "We're going to make it clear to all Californians that this thing is the handiwork of a little band of right-wing nuts," said Garry South, one of Mr. Davis's chief political advisers. "This whole process is ludicrous. Voters are just astonished at what is happening here." And instead of using Mr. Davis as the principal carrier of the antirecall message, his aides say they intend to bring in prominent surrogates. The cast includes former President Bill Clinton — who lavished attention on California while in office — and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the recall effort and energize Democratic voters. "We're going to bring all the Democrats home," said Terry McAuliffe, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, who campaigned against the recall here last weekend and is among the national Democrats advising Mr. Davis. "This is about more than Gray Davis," he said. "It's about an attempt to undo an election, like Florida." Mr. Davis this week promised a "full-fledged campaign" to save his job in the weeks before the Oct. 7 special election. "I intend to aggressively make my case," the governor said in an interview. "I am proud of what I have accomplished over the past four and a half years. Of course not everything has worked out the way I would have wished, and I will accept my share of responsibility." He added that he believed he had a strong case against the recall, which will cost the state millions of dollars and threatens, as he put it, "to shove the state in reverse." Yet even his supporters and advisers say that if the recall election becomes a referendum on Mr. Davis and his record, he will probably go down to defeat. They say this is partly because of the state's crippling budget problems and partly because of the way he has previously campaigned — less by promoting his own qualifications than by tearing down his opposition in hugely expensive campaigns. "If it's Davis versus Davis, he loses," said one senior adviser to Mr. Davis, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "He has spent millions trashing other people and has never spent any time, effort or money telling people why he was a decent guy. How can you rehabilitate the guy at this point? You have to move him off the scene and make this about something bigger."
Governor Davis starts with numerous handicaps. Polls show that fewer than a quarter of the state's voters approve of the job he is doing as governor; fewer still feel any affection for him. Polls also show
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