Issa to California: Peace, we outta here

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Your recall update for the day:

 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...1620EDT0668.DTL

 

The millionaire congressman who largely funded the effort to recall Gov. Gray Davis abruptly pulled out of the race to replace him Thursday, a day after actor Arnold Schwarzenegger jumped in.

 

Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, who made his fortune selling car alarms and pumped $1.7 million of his own money into the recall effort, announced in a tearful news conference that he would not run.

 

He declined to endorse anyone but said Schwarzenegger's announcement Wednesday that he would run for governor helped assure him there would be enough qualified candidates for the office.

 

"It has nothing to do with Schwarzenegger's decision, other than I needed to know that there were several strong candidates," he said.

 

Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger picked up his candidacy papers Thursday afternoon, threading his way through hundreds of people gathered outside the Los Angeles County Registrar's Office.

 

Cheers erupted from the crowd as he got out of a black Chevrolet Suburban, walked up and shook hands and signed autographs. He grinned and gave a thumbs-up pose for well-wishers.

 

In San Diego, Issa had summoned reporters to what his aides said would be his entry into the governor's race.

 

As he spoke, supporters waved "Issa for Governor" signs, and the congressman held up the papers that he said would have qualified him for the ballot.

 

Standing outside the Registrar of Voters office, Issa said he would retain his seat in Congress so he could work toward peace in the Middle East. The grandson of Lebanese immigrants has shuttled between regional capitals as a peace broker.

 

"Once it was possible to not have to be the face of the recall, not have to be the candidate if no one else would lead, I now have the opportunity to choose between two directions," he said. "One is my service in Washington, the other was what many people assumed was blind ambition."

 

Issa's criticism of Davis has been harsh, saying he misled voters about the size of the state budget deficit during last year's governor's race. The deficit then ballooned to $38 billion.

 

"We have a governor who created a monumental disaster by overspending, lied about it, covered it up, and now has no plan to fix it," he said previously, explaining why he financed the recall effort.

 

The 49-year-old businessman lost a 1998 Senate bid and two congressional campaigns, primarily because of questions about two arrests in 1972 on weapons charges in Ohio and Michigan. One resulted in a $100 fine, the other was dropped.

 

Democrats seized on Issa's past, which included accusations, later dismissed, of faking the theft of his brother's Mercedes in 1980 and selling the vehicle to a San Jose car dealer.

 

"As they have pounded on my personal past, and they have pounded on my party and my motives, I have known all along that our motives were good for California," he said.

 

His departure threw the recall race into more turmoil.

 

Late Wednesday, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante broke party ranks to become the first prominent Democrat to declare his own candidacy. Another Democrat, state Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, also has announced plans to run.

 

On Wednesday, independent political commentator Arianna Huffington also jumped into the race.

 

Well this is nice. This is the guy that, for those of you paying attention to the history of all this, threw millions at the recall campaign and turned it from some tiny grassroots effort into the giant whirlwind circus it is right now. He's also a bigass social conservative. The kind of conservative that could work in the rest of the country, but definitely not in California. You know, anti-gun control, anti-abortion, rumoredly anti-gay, etc. That just doesn't fly here.

 

At the same time, Bustamante is the first big name to split away from the shakily united Davis front. It was only a matter of time. At least libs won't have a horrible idiot like Governor eBay as the only choice to represent their interest on the ballot.

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0]

I saw the Bustamane story earlier from dKos, and I'm really glad that the democrats have a good option finally.

 

Jobber, from your perspective, what do you think of him?

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Part of the problem with these secondary roles in government like Lt Governor, Insurance Comissioner, and whatever else, is that unles you are really really seriously into the state politics you have no idea who these people are and what they do. I can guarantee you that last election many election pens flailed randomly, voting along party lines.

 

I suspect that we're suddently going to know a lot more detail about his record than the 5 o clock news or the paper ever told in a bit when the spinmeisters start up.

 

Basically, the way things have gone is that Davis sits around being ignorant to all the problems and Feinstein and Bustamante try to clean up after him. In a previous thread I linked you to a story about how Davis could have averted the energy crisis if he was the least bit competant, and after we already had our pocketbooks emptied by the energy companies, Bustamante filed a civil suit alleging them of price fixing. Not sure how that went as the energy thing became rather ignored by the media after 9/11.

 

Anyway, it's been more than a little obvious that Davis and Bustamante don't like each other, so it's not totally mind-blowing that he'd run.

[Swift Terror 0]

I can't help but be glad Issa is taking a little on the chin. This whole recall thing is too much "I didn't like the outcome of the election, so I'm throwing millions to recall." Well then, why did the voters put him in for a second term? They should have taken care of it then. From what I understand, things started to screw up during his first term.

Now we're just going to get Republicans targeted for recall. And some of the more, ahem, strident Conservatives will bitch about it when it happens, but right now they are loving it. Of course, the same applies to Liberals who oppose this, but will love it when it happens to a Republican.

 

Ah, politics.

[Guest JMA]

Eh, can't say I'm not happy. I'm not a big fan of social conservitism.

[NoCalMike 0]

This guy was crying, hahaha. Sorry but I have no pity for him. He dropped out cause he is pretty sure he would get trounced by Arnold. He only funded this recall with his money because HE WANTED TO BE THE GOVENOR, and everyone in CA knows it. This guy is a crybaby.