The Recall - I don't

The Recall - I don't write a lot about the recall, compared to some bloggers - I'm not from California or anything - but I had to mention this.

Yesterday, Schwarzenegger asked:

"'One wonders what the motivation of all this is, why I'm getting thrown all this stuff three days before' the vote, he said in a pool interview. 'Where have they been the last 20 years, 10 years, five years?'

He also said he would have apologized long ago to women he had groped -- had they said something. 'No one complained to me,' he said. 'When someone comes to me and says how dare you say this, how dare you do this, I can apologize right then and there.'"

Well, there's a simple reason; stealing momentum.

Arnold's had all the momentum in this race since long before he even announced. The Davis/Bustamante/LATimes machine is keenly aware that not only has Bustamante not developed any traction in the polls, but that in fact momentum is going the wrong way. Arnold has set the agenda, the pace and the tone for the whole campaign.

Now, the LATimes (which is acting like a complicit tool of the Davis/Bustamante campaign) has seized the initiative...to a point. The race isn't about lioinizing Schwarzenegger anymore - this must be increasing Arnold's negatives - but I don't see it increasing Bustamante's chances.

If anything, I'd suspect this drives up the "No" vote against recall. Will it be enough to save Davis?

I think Arnold's move yesterday - declaring it the last day he'd respond to womanizing and Nazi-sympathy allegations - was a good one. He needs to get back on message - message that was working in a way star power alone couldn't have, until last week.

Posted by Mitch at October 4, 2003 06:53 AM