Leading Democrat in California recall appears to shift rhetoric

FRESNO, Calif. -- Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante's strategy of "No on Recall, yes on Bustamante" appeared to shift toward "Yes on Bustamante" as voters began casting the first absentee ballots Monday in the election to recall Gov. Gray Davis.

"I need your vote for governor," Bustamante repeatedly reminded a crowd of about 2,500 people during a rally here Sunday in his hometown. But only once did he urge them to first vote against recalling Davis. And even then, Bustamante acknowledged afterward, those words were largely drowned out by the chants of his supporters.

"You didn't hear it over the roar of the crowd, but at the end of the speech, I said, 'No on recall, yes on Bustamante,'" he said.

The lieutenant governor, the only prominent Democrat among the 135 candidates on the Oct. 7 ballot to replace Davis, has said he originally got into the race as a fallback candidate for his party to support if fellow Democrat Davis was recalled.

As such, he said, he would urge people to vote "no" on the first part of the recall ballot and then to vote for him on the second part.

But on Sunday he said, "The governor is focused on the first question, and I've got to be focused on the second."

Davis aides downplayed the shift on Monday.

"We believe that Cruz Bustamante is a good and decent person, and we take him at his word when he says he is no on the recall and yes on Bustamante," said Peter Ragone, spokesman for Davis' campaign committee.

Monday was the first day to vote by absentee ballot, which election officials say could account for as many as a third of the votes. The campaign moved into its final month with a burst of activity from the leading contenders.

Conservative state Sen. Tom McClintock took his campaign to the airwaves Monday, vowing on KTVU-TV in Oakland not to step down to make way for Republican front-runner Arnold Schwarzenegger.

But McClintock joined Schwarzenegger in attacking Davis for signing a bill to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Davis signed the bill Friday after vetoing similar legislation last year.

"Whenever a politician is in trouble they go back and appeal to their base and that's what's going on with Gray Davis," McClintock told San Diego talk radio station KFMB-AM. "His base is the radical left, and as you know, there is an element in the radical left that seeks to undermine the enforcement of our immigration laws."

Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger held a town hall-style meeting at a college campus Monday night, taking another step toward settling into the role of a traditional candidate in the recall campaign.

The Republican front-runner mimicked Davis' style in holding unscripted exchanges with guests at Chapman University. Davis, who has already held a series of town hall meetings in what he has described as a bid to reconnect with Californians, was scheduled to hold a forum in Los Angeles later Monday evening.

Schwarzenegger said he had an honorary doctorate from the university and joked that "I'm not really a doctor ... but then again the reality of it is Gray Davis isn't really a governor."

In response to a law student's question about how he would protect public schools, Schwarzenegger said he understood the importance of education and would focus on giving local districts more control. He described Sacramento as "the schoolyard bully."

Schwarzenegger, who was criticized early in the campaign for not making himself available to reporters, has in recent days held extended news conferences during public appearances. His campaign also was planning three or four more town halls before the vote.

Schwarzenegger's wife, Maria Shriver, campaigned at a voter-registration event in the Sacramento suburb of Natomas, but the event was countered a dozen union members opposed to the recall.

At one point the group chanted, "Yes on pants, no on recall," a reference to a 1988 Playboy magazine interview in which Schwarzenegger said he inherited his father's distaste for women's slacks.

Shriver was peppered with questions about Schwarzenegger's past comments that have been criticized by some women's groups. The Kennedy relative said she is confident women will support her husband's campaign.

Davis' anti-recall campaign also announced in San Diego that it was working to bring former President Clinton to the state to help the governor try to retain his job.

"It is absolutely not nailed down, but I would expect news within the next couple of days," said Steve Smith, campaign director of Californians Against the Costly Recall.

Davis faced more fallout Monday from his criticism last week of Schwarzenegger's Austrian-accented pronunciation of the name California.

California Republican Party Chairman Duf Sundheim called for an apology, and Huffington, a Greek-born independent candidate, seized on the opportunity.

"Contrary to what Gov. Davis said, you can have an accent, you can pronounce California in the wrong way and still be governor of California," she told Orange Coast College students.

Elsewhere, McClintock campaigned on the airwaves, vowing during a television appearance in Oakland that he would not drop out to make way for Schwarzenegger.

But McClintock joined Schwarzenegger in attacking Davis for signing a bill to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, and in attributing the move to politics. Davis signed the bill Friday after vetoing similar legislation last year.