Politicos ready for final run

Deepa Bharath

Democrats and Republicans alike welcomed the federal appeals court’s

decision Tuesday to reverse its ruling and allow the state’s recall

election to proceed as scheduled on Oct. 7.

Their unanimity in doing so, however, only created an illusion of

party lines being blurred.

Both chairmen of the Republican and Democratic parties of Orange

County said they would rather face the election two weeks from now

and get it over with than have it prolonged until March, but for

different reasons.

The same court on Sept. 15 had postponed California’s

unprecedented gubernatorial recall, ruling that many of the votes in

six major counties, including Orange, Los Angeles and San Diego,

would be cast on the unreliable punch-card ballots.

But on Tuesday, an 11-member panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court

of Appeals unanimously overturned that decision, upholding the

public’s right to vote over the harm that might be caused by

antiquated ballot machines. The American Civil Liberties Union, which

brought the case to postpone the decision, said on Tuesday that they

will not appeal further.

Tom Fuentes, chairman of the county Republican Party, said

Tuesday’s decision only proves that “the court seemed it fit to honor

the will of the people.”

“Whatever the result of the election, a statement has been made,”

he said.

The decision also “weighs in favor of a ‘yes’ vote” for the

Republicans, Fuentes said.

But Democratic Party leader Frank Barbaro said he has no doubt

that Gov. Gray Davis will prevail.

“We have been operating under the assumption that the recall will

go forward on Oct. 7,” he said. “We haven’t broken stride. We didn’t

know what to expect, so we assumed that we should proceed as if

nothing had changed. Like chicken soup, it couldn’t hurt.”

Davis “has closed the gap” and will succeed, Barbaro said.

The decision “has rung the bell for the last lap of the race,”

said Mark Petracca, chairman of UC Irvine’s political science

department.

He said a delay in the recall vote could have helped Davis.

“First, people would have become exhausted,” he said. “And there

would be a larger Democratic turnout for the March election.”

But as things have turned out, Davis “will not be harmed” by

Tuesday’s decision, Petracca said.

“His momentum is moving in the right direction,” he said. “As the

electorate has sobered up, the amusement value of this whole thing

has gone down. Davis has not closed the gap entirely, but he’s

getting close. And prospects are always better when you’re moving in

the right direction.”

Petracca said the public can expect to see an increase in the

“intensity and negativity” in campaigning starting now, given the

ACLU’s announcement that it won’t appeal Tuesday’s decision.

“It’s like a sprint from here,” he said. “The excitement is on.”