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August 06, 2003 Arnold Schwarzenegger ended the suspense Wednesday and said he would run in California's recall election, awarding Republicans his marquee value in their campaign to oust Gov. Gray Davis. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein ruled out a run, labeling the election "more and more like a carnival every day." Schwarzenegger's announcement came as a surprise; advisers had said in recent days that he was leaning against running in the Oct. 7 election. Schwarzenegger made his announcement during a taping of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." "The politicians are fiddling, fumbling and failing," he said. "The man that is failing the people more than anyone is Gray Davis. He is failing them terribly, and this is why he needs to be recalled and this is why I am going to run for governor." Political commentator Arianna Huffington declared Wednesday that she would run as an independent, one of the only other well-known names in the race so far. Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, a moderate Republican, has said he would enter the race if Schwarzenegger did not. Feinstein's decision not to run gave a big boost to Davis, while frustrating some Democrats who wanted her to run to ensure the governorship would remain in the party's hands if Davis lost. "After thinking a great deal about this recall, its implications for the future, and its misguided nature, I have decided that I will not place my name on the ballot," Feinstein said in a statement. "I deeply believe the recall is a terrible mistake and will bring to the depth and breadth of California instability and uncertainty, which will be detrimental to our economic recovery and decision-making," she said. The recall election is yet another setback for Davis, who has seen his popularity plummet as the state grapples with a record $38 billion budget deficit. It also is the latest force to bedevil Californians, who in recent years have endured an energy crisis, the collapse of the dot-com economy and a federally mandated cutback in one of the state's main water supplies. Residents now face the prospect of higher car taxes and college fees to close the state's budget gap. Davis is the first California governor to face a recall and would be only the second governor nationwide to be removed from office if the effort succeeds. Analysts from both parties believed the governor's chances for survival would have dramatically diminished if Feinstein, who tops polls as California's most popular politician, was on the ballot as an alternative. Her decision came a day after a strong endorsement for Davis from the AFL-CIO. Both developments were key victories for the governor, whose support from fellow party members had appeared to be weakening. "I'm very pleased with Sen. Feinstein's announcement," Davis told San Francisco radio station KGO-AM. "To the extent that Democrats get in the race, it makes it look like a normal election, and legitimates what is really an effort by the right wing to steal back an election they couldn't win last November," he said. "I think at the end of the day people will realize that the party is better served rallying around its sitting governor." Some party members still thought otherwise. "I want to back the strongest candidate and it's important that we coalesce around one, and now I'm appealing to the leaders, the folks whose pay grade is one or two notches up from mine, to figure out who our strongest candidate is and lead us in coalescing behind that candidate," said Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., who had supported a Feinstein candidacy.
One possibility was U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez, who had supported a Feinstein candidacy and said she might run if Feinstein
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