dougo: (Default)
([personal profile] dougo Aug. 14th, 2003 04:02 am)
...is what California Governor Gray Davis called the recall initiative in the Governor's Answer to the Proponent's Statement of Reasons (both the statement and the answer were included in the petition that was signed by 1,363,411 registered voters). Seems pretty accurate to me. Especially when you realize that the ballot is structured as two separate questions: 1. Should the Governor be recalled? 2. Who should replace him? If a majority of the ballots answer the first question "yes", then the highest vote-getter in question 2 wins. What this means is if you think that, say, David Laughing Horse Robinson would be a better governor than Gray Davis, but otherwise prefer Davis to everyone else, your "yes" answer to question 1 might cause Arnold Schwarzenegger to win. Once again, the lack of instant runoff voting makes me furious. Why not let everyone pick their top 5 choices, in order?

Anyway, I saw Gray Davis on "Real Time With Bill Maher" the other night, and I have to say that once again he displayed a lack of charisma even more severe than George H. W. Bush's. I'm not really sure how Davis got into office in the first place; apparently he ran a very aggressive campaign or something. Still, I don't think he's done anything to warrant a recall in the last 10 months, so if I were a California resident I'd probably answer "no" to question 1 and pick one of the Green party candidates for question 2 just in case.

Oh, and Janeane Garofalo is surprisingly unappealing as a blonde. I really hope it's just for a role.

From: [identity profile] dougo.livejournal.com


Umm, sorry about the whitespace, apparently the JPEG is taller than it needs to be. Also, sorry for commenting on my own post, but I figured that would be more honest than editing it after the fact. And, what's the deal with comments being dated in Pacific time?

From: [identity profile] jfb.livejournal.com


As far as I can tell, Davis is a terrible governor. The last gubernatorial election was the most depressing lesser-of-two-evils race I've ever voted in. (I think I voted Green.) See the Chris Suellentrop piece that described Davis as "the incarnation of None of the Above" (http://slate.msn.com/id/2084612/).

One of the ways he "ran a very aggressive campaign": He funded TV ads attacking the then-leading Republican candidate during the primary race, arguably handing the nomination to Bill Simon, who, it turned out, couldn't beat Davis. All's fair, but it's a taste of the kind of political strategist he is.

That said, I don't think the recall election was a good idea, and I don't think any of the viable candidates would be much better as governor. And yeah, what you said about instant runoff voting. It's a bad situation.

From: [identity profile] dougo.livejournal.com


Interesting article. I guess all of what I said's been said before:
Beinart's highest praise for Davis: "[H]is lack of charisma is refreshing."
If there are enough candidates on the list, 45 percent of the voters could want to keep Davis as governor, and he could be replaced by a candidate who wins only 15 percent or 20 percent (or less) of the vote.
Maybe if Davis does get recalled (which now actually looks possible if he only got 47% of the vote in the first place) it'll be a fiasco big enough to finally get people to take IRV seriously. That is, if the Muppets aren't enough.


From: [identity profile] jfb.livejournal.com


It's highly possible. He got 47% of... those who bothered to vote... and turnout is expected to be lower for the recall, which means even smaller numbers can elect a governor. One good thing about Schwarzenegger in the race: He'll bring more people to the polls.

Meanwhile, the ballot will also contain the Racial Privacy Initiative: "The state shall not classify any individual by race, ethnicity, color or national origin in the operation of public education, public contracting or public employment." Sounds reasonable, but it prevents the state from, for example, collecting information to figure out whether its antidiscrimination efforts are working. Unless this gets a lot more publicity, this is going to pass, and I think voters will be surprised by the results.

And: I don't know, if Florida 2000 didn't get people interested, why should California 2003?
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