Arianna Huffington drops out of California recall race

SAN FRANCISCO -- A week before the election, independent candidate Arianna Huffington dropped out of the California recall race Tuesday, saying she aimed to prevent Arnold Schwarzenegger from becoming governor.

Huffington's exit, announced on CNN's "Larry King Live," removes a similar voice to Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante's from the race, and leaves Bustamante as the Democrats' best hope of thwarting Schwarzenegger should Gov. Gray Davis lose the recall vote.

"I'm pulling out and I'm going to concentrate all my time and energy in the next week working to defeat the recall because I realize that's the only way to defeat" the Republican actor-turned-candidate, Huffington said.

But Huffington declined to specifically endorse Bustamante, merely urging her supporters to "vote strategically" in an effort to stop a GOP takeover of California. She urged people to vote against the recall and then consider their options for the second half of the Oct. 7 ballot.

Van Jones, Huffington's chief organizer, said Huffington was trying "to position herself so she can maximize opposition to the Schwarzenegger coup."

Huffington, a 53-year old columnist and TV pundit who transformed herself from Republican to fiery populist, drew a loyal following on the Internet and on the campaign trail. She played the outsider with a sharp and witty tongue, launching verbal assaults focused on Schwarzenegger during the one debate he participated in.

But her appeal never drew enough support in polls and some political analysts said her relentless attacks could have hurt her.

In a CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll released Sunday, she had only 2 percent support among the likeliest voters, compared with 40 percent for Schwarzenegger and 25 percent for Bustamante.

In recent days, the recall race has focused on the matchup between Davis and Schwarzenegger, the leading Republican replacement candidate. Huffington has criticized both, but took sharper aim at Schwarzenegger.

Appearing at a San Francisco news conference while Huffington made her announcement, Schwarzenegger said he was "disappointed" she had dropped out.

"She brought a lot of color and a lot of excitement to the race," he said.

Green Party candidate Peter Camejo, who had 5 percent in the Gallup poll, said Huffington called him Sunday to let him know she was considering getting out of the race.

"I advised her against it," said Camejo, who early in the campaign had an unofficial pact with Huffington calling for one of the two candidates to drop out if the other appeared close to victory.

Camejo said he has no intention of withdrawing himself.

Meanwhile, both the Davis and Schwarzenegger camps were planning major events to rally last-minute support.

Former President Clinton was expected to return to the state to campaign for Davis on Thursday, the same day Schwarzenegger planned to depart on a four-day bus tour beginning in San Diego.

Tuesday, Davis turned to the Democrats' most reliable constituency, organized labor, accompanying Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe to a get-out-the-vote phone bank.

"Mr. Schwarzenegger says organized labor is a special interest," Davis said to hisses from the union volunteers. "He's got part of that right. You are special. You are special to our future."

The governor also criticized a comment the actor made at a town hall meeting Monday night suggesting he might support eliminating the state Environmental Protection Agency because of its overlapping role with the federal environmental agency.

"We don't want to turn over our environment to the federal government," Davis said.

Schwarzenegger spokesman Sean Walsh said Davis' comment was "misleading," saying Schwarzenegger did not favor eliminating the California EPA but wants to make it more efficient and ensure it works closely with the federal EPA.

Later Tuesday, Davis signed legislation that he hailed as a complete overhaul of state workers' compensation rules. Annual workers' compensation costs for businesses across the state have risen to $29 billion, climbing $20 billion over the past eight years. The overhaul, passed by the Legislature earlier this month, aims to cut as much as $6 billion from the system.

During an appearance on KGO-AM in San Francisco Tuesday, Schwarzenegger attacked the workers' compensation package as not offering real reforms.

"It didn't do a thing in order to decrease really the cost," he said. "We've got to cut it back down so businesses can stay here and do business here."

The bodybuilder-turned-actor also responded for the first time publicly to Davis' repeated challenges to a one-on-one debate.

"The first item on the ballot is should we recall Gray Davis or not. This is between him and the people. ... He has to debate the people of California," Schwarzenegger said.

Also Tuesday, state Democratic Party spokesman Bob Mulholland confirmed that officials would hold a conference call Wednesday to discuss funding possible legal challenges to the recall after the election.

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Associated Press Writers Paul Chavez and Erica Werner in Los Angeles contributed to this story.