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The recall vote: It's a sprint to Oct. 7 But now recall advocates face this inherent challenge: They must keep the negative focus on Davis to oust him on Oct. 7. At the same time, each would-be challenger in a widening field may be tempted to criticize his or her competitors to stand out from the pack. If voters choose to oust Davis, his replacement would be chosen instantly on the same ballot. To get on the ballot, a candidate must be a U.S. citizen, a registered voter in the state, obtain 65 nomination signatures from members of his or her own party and pay a $3,500 filing fee (or submit 10,000 signatures in lieu of the fee). Some Republican leaders advocate holding an informal convention to narrow the field to one or two candidates, but that idea appears to be going nowhere. The first declared candidates were Republican Darrell Issa, a wealthy, conservative San Diego County congressman and chief financier of the recall campaign, and Peter Camejo, a liberal, Green Party money manager who ran for governor last year. Camejo hopes to appeal to Californians who don't want to vote for a Republican. He advocates raising taxes on businesses and the wealthy while scaling back sales and car taxes. "We're the only campaign that's saying 'No cutbacks,' " he said. In addition to Issa, two conservatives, last year's GOP gubernatorial candidate, Bill Simon, and state Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Simi Valley, are expected formally to announce candidacies. Two self-described moderate Republicans, Schwarzenegger and his friend, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, are considering running as well. Republican campaign adviser Sean Walsh said either of those two could put a wrench in Davis' plans to paint the recall as a conservative coup. "If it's just Issa and Simon and McClintock, that works and you can fold it all into one camp: anti-choice, pro-Rambo guns and anti-environment," Walsh said. "But Schwarzenegger and Riordan don't fit that mold." In terms of individual strategies, Issa, a junior congressman battered by Davis for brushes he had with the law more than 20 years ago, will argue that his willingness to invest in the recall while other Republicans sat back and waited shows he is a leader. "One fellow was out promoting his self-interest in movies," Issa adviser Ken Khachigian said of Schwarzenegger. "Another fellow was sitting in the Legislature seeing if anyone would fight his fight for him," he said of McClintock. "Another was sitting out trying to figure out whether to take another run," he said of Simon. "Another was taking bike trips through wine country, trying to figure out if he should deign to run again," he said of Riordan. "I'm not saying the other people are bad people," Khachigian said. "I'm just saying they didn't step up to the plate." McClintock, a Sacramento veteran who has built a statewide following on a less-taxes, less-government platform, will play up his experience and court conservative voters likely to turn out. "This is going to be a very low-turnout election and the people who are going to vote are going to be concerned about politics rather than celebrity status," said McClintock's campaign director, John Feliz. "He's been here in California doing this for nearly two decades. His predictions of economic chaos have been delivered." Simon will argue that he is the only replacement candidate ready to step in.
"He spent 2 1/2 years studying the issues, outlining proposals to deal with a budget, education, energy, roads, air quality, and he's got the people in place," said Sal Russo, an adviser in last year's campaign. "He's somebody who could
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