ON SO MANY different levels, the California recall seems so strange, if not wrong. It goes against our expectations of parties and order in the electoral process; the characters involved are so unbelievable, even comical; the major parties are completely disjointed. On this first evaluation, the recall seems to be democratic vaudeville, unredeemable in purpose, living caricatures in a mad dash towards the governorship.
However, the recall is saved by the strong roots it has in progressive and Jeffersonian notions of democracy and by the possibility of newfound political efficacy and invigoration in the California public.
When it comes to gubernatorial races, voters expect polished candidates, seasoned in the political process, who have fleshed-out platforms ready upon their intention to run. Nothing could be further from the case with the recall. With the exceptions of Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and State Sen. Tom McClintock, the recall pack is led by outsiders: Actors, issue advocates, engineers, college students, cigarette retailers, even pornographers -- people who, for the most part, have little or no political or personal sway even within their own locality. The assortment of professions candidates list is far beyond the usual fare for gubernatorial candidates, which usually are lawyers, businessmen or professional politicians. In that sense, it resembles a school board election more than a race for governor.
Neither are voters in California used to such a shockingly long list of possible candidates. Because there were no party primaries and few barriers to entry, any wacko with $3,500 and 65 signatures (and perhaps a domain name) could set up shop as Mr. or Mrs. Future Governor. From Trek Thunder Kelly, who promises in his candidate statement that a vote for him will cause the "[breaking of] the Seventh Seal and incurring Armageddon," to state middleweight sumo wrestling champion Kurt E. "Tachikaze" Rightmyer, who will "attack the 800-lb. gorilla of big government from every angle," (presumably while wearing a sumo loincloth), the recall is full of strange characters both famous and unknown. In all seriousness, voters face such an overwhelming number of candidates, so many that even a reasonably interested observer would never be able to gather a full sense of where all the candidates stand on issues.
Party identification has become a difficult thing to discern. There are 50 Democrats on the ballot, along with 36 Republicans on the ballot. With so many opinions of what it is to be a "Democrat" or "Republican," voters' reflexive identification of candidates with particular ideas is negated. In the Republican realm, compare Arnold Schwarzenegger and State Sen. Tom McClintock; within the same party, on the same ballot, you have Schwarzenegger supporting abortion and more regulated immigration, while McClintock represents the polar opposite. If this doesn't show the breakdown of party politics in the 21st century, nothing does.
Just as any good vaudeville, the actions of the characters are equally ludicrous, those of Democrats in particular. If Democrats were solidly against the recall and keeping the governorship in their own hands, they would either rally behind Gov. Davis and fight the first part of the ballot (the question of whether or not to recall Davis), or rally behind a single replacement candidate. Democratic success depends on closing rank, not dividing and being conquered. The Democrats may say they support Davis formally, but their actions demonstrate they're all abandoning ship.
But whatever the outcome of the recall election, whether Davis keeps his job or Arnold terminates him, the process has gotten Californians interested in politics again. Pre-recall, none of the large network affiliates in Los Angeles, San Francisco or San Diego had a Sacramento bureau, let alone covered state politics. Now, Sacramento is at the center of every state and national news broadcast. Even at the individual level, ordinary citizens are talking about state issues. For example, when was the last time that budget policies were common dinnertime conversation fodder?
It would also be fair to say that our own Mr. Jefferson would be proud of how democratic the recall election is, not only on the grounds that the people, from whom government derive power from, are exercising their power over government, but also because anyone and everyone has a shot at being governor.
The only certain thing about the recall is that it will be decided with the closing of the polls on Oct. 7, though maybe in this age of Bush v. Gore even that is too much to say.
But just as Mr. Jefferson said, "Whenever our affairs go obviously wrong, the good sense of the people will interpose and set them to rights." In that spirit, the people of California will attempt to make things right on Oct. 7.
(Jim Prosser is a Cavalier Daily viewpoint writer.)
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