2008 Woodie Awards
Strategists put spin on recall campaign at UC-Berkelely conference
Alex Eiranova--Daily Californian (U. California-Berkeley)
Issue date: 10/20/03 Section: News
- Page 1 of 2 next >
(U-WIRE) BERKELEY, Calif. - California Attorney General Bill Lockyer shocked a crowd of journalists and academics at a University of California at Berkeley conference Saturday when he announced he broke party lines and voted for Republican Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger in the recent election. "Arnold represented for me what he did for others -- hope, change, reform, opportunity, upbeat problem solving," said Lockyer, who is rumored to be running as one of the Democratic gubernatorial candidates in the 2006 election.
Lockyer said he hoped Schwarzenegger would not "con" the voters.
Gasps greeted Lockyer's announcement in what shaped up to be a day of post-recall spin and analysis.
The event, sponsored by the UC Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies and the Center on Politics, featured election strategists from a variety of political camps, each of whom sought to construct a historical record of the campaign's tumultuous events.
Gov. Gray Davis' strategist Gary South at times dominated the gubernatorial-campaign panel as he dished out frank criticism, often directed at Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante's campaign.
South referred to Bustamante's campaign as "disingenuous" and blamed it for muddling the Democratic Party's overall position of rejecting the recall.
South likened Bustamante's campaign to cigarette companies -- telling voters to vote no on the recall but to still vote for the lieutenant governor is like telling teenagers smoking is unhealthy but selling products to them anyway, he said.
Strategists from the Schwarzenegger camp received praise from the gubernatorial election panel for running a strong campaign but faced tough questioning from the audience.
Democratic Party spokesperson Bob Mulholland pointed to the allegation that Schwarzenegger inappropriately groped 16 women. Mulholland added that if anyone had abused his wife in such a way, he would "kill the bastard."
This prompted a back-and-forth between the panel and Mulholland. One Republican strategist eventually shouted, "You lost, it's over."
Lockyer said he hoped Schwarzenegger would not "con" the voters.
Gasps greeted Lockyer's announcement in what shaped up to be a day of post-recall spin and analysis.
The event, sponsored by the UC Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies and the Center on Politics, featured election strategists from a variety of political camps, each of whom sought to construct a historical record of the campaign's tumultuous events.
Gov. Gray Davis' strategist Gary South at times dominated the gubernatorial-campaign panel as he dished out frank criticism, often directed at Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante's campaign.
South referred to Bustamante's campaign as "disingenuous" and blamed it for muddling the Democratic Party's overall position of rejecting the recall.
South likened Bustamante's campaign to cigarette companies -- telling voters to vote no on the recall but to still vote for the lieutenant governor is like telling teenagers smoking is unhealthy but selling products to them anyway, he said.
Strategists from the Schwarzenegger camp received praise from the gubernatorial election panel for running a strong campaign but faced tough questioning from the audience.
Democratic Party spokesperson Bob Mulholland pointed to the allegation that Schwarzenegger inappropriately groped 16 women. Mulholland added that if anyone had abused his wife in such a way, he would "kill the bastard."
This prompted a back-and-forth between the panel and Mulholland. One Republican strategist eventually shouted, "You lost, it's over."