Seething over taxes and red ink, Californians revolted at the polls and replaced their unpopular governor with political novice Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Hollywood action star who now faces the colossal task he asked for: jump-starting California's flagging economy.
Governor Gray Davis, the bland Democrat who was a widely disliked career public servant and presided over California's economy as it careened from boom to bust, was recalled Tuesday less than a year into his second term. Nearly 54 percent of voters voted for his ouster.
Schwarzenegger, a moderate Republican with tonnes of charisma but virtually no political experience, was easily elected among candidates to replace Davis just two months after shocking even his closest aides when he declared his candidacy.
The Austrian-born action movie hero may find that the hardest part is yet to come. He will need to quickly assemble an administration and work with a Democrat-controlled legislature to close a projected US$8 billion shortfall for next fiscal year. Schwarzenegger scheduled an afternoon press conference yesterday to discuss the transition.
"We have tough choices ahead," Schwarzenegger said in declaring victory. "The first choice that we must make is the one that will determine our success. Shall we rebuild our state together or shall we fight amongst ourselves, create even deeper divisions and fail the people of California? Well, let me tell you something -- the answer is clear. For the people to win, politics as usual must lose."
Partial returns early yesterday showed the recall favored by 3,942,319 voters or 54 percent, and opposed by 3,365,130 or 46.21 percent.
Among the replacement candidates, Schwarzenegger was ahead with 3,332,480, or 47.8 percent of the vote; Democratic Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante had 2,255,880, or 32.4 percent; Republican state Senator Tom McClintock had 921,055 votes, or 13.2 percent; and Green Party candidate Peter Camejo had 196,713 votes, or 2.8 percent.
"Tonight, the voters did decide it's time for someone else to serve, and I accept their judgment," said Davis, who became the first California governor and the second in the nation ever to be recalled. "I'm calling on everyone ... to put the chaos and division of the recall behind us and do what's right for this great state of California."
Barring a legal challenge, Schwarzenegger will be sworn in no later than Nov. 16 to serve out the remaining three years of Davis' term. First the vote must be certified, a process that can take more than a month. He would then be up for re-election in 2006.
Schwarzenegger will need to turn in a budget plan by Jan. 10, giving him just a few months to deliver on campaign-trail promises not to raise taxes or cut education spending, which consumes roughly 40 percent of California's budget. Throughout the campaign, Schwarzenegger refused to say what he would cut, but painful program slashing undoubtedly looms.
He also promised to repeal this year's tripling of the state vehicle license fee, although he has not said how he would make up the US$4 billion that would cost.
Schwarzenegger must work with Democrats, who are a majority of both houses in the legislature and hold all statewide offices except his newly-won governorship.
He dismissed the problem on the campaign trail, saying he knew how to work with Democrats because he's married to one -- Kennedy relative Maria Shriver. In practice, it's likely to be a thornier issue.
Despite the rancorous recall race, Bustamante and other Democratic officeholders pledged to put partisanship behind them and work with the new governor.
"As I see it, we campaign as partisans but we govern as Californians," said Bustamante, who will remain in office until his current term expires in 2006. "I know how to balance a budget and I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work."
Schwarzenegger, 56, prevailed despite a flurry of negative publicity in the campaign's final days, surviving allegations from 16 women that he had groped or touched them in unwanted sexual advances, and accusations that as a young man he spoke admiringly of Adolf Hitler.
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