Why We Lost the CA Recall [View All]

1) Davis's unpopularity: The man was horribly unpopular. Rightly or wrongly people blamed him for the multitude of the problems facing the state. Frankly, given how unpopular he was, Satan could have beaten Davis if his name had been on the second part of the ballot.

2) Internal Bickering Among Democrats: It was obvious that the Democratic Party didn't have a unified strategy. People say that Bustamente should never have run or there shouldn't have been a second person on the ballot.

I disagree. I think that as soon as it was evident the recall was going to be announced, Davis should have resigned his position. I think that the party should have been unified together and asked for his resignation. There was no way he was going to survive and the party would have been better off if he had left.

I was against that at first; but, in looking hindsight, which is always admittedly 20/20, Davis should have dropped out. He should have resgined when it was clear that Issa et al were going to have enough signatures to push his ouster on the ballot. He should have stepped aside. The party should have all approached him unanimously with the clear data.

When it was clear that Davis was not going to step aside the party should have settled on one replacement candidate. Garamendi should never have toyed with the deicision. Bustamente should have gotten clear support.

3) Gray Davis and Cruz Bustamente: They should not have fought. They should have put their differences aside. Both of their petty attitudes cost the race. Granted it was clear neither man liked each other. But both men, in refusing to work together, doomed the other. They both need to realize that they were part of the reason why they both lost. Maybe that's what they wanted. Maybe each man thought "If I can't be Governor then _________________ won't either". Still, though, that cost us a lot.

4) Not Mentioning Enron: From what I saw here on the East Coast, which means that I may be off base here, Davis never mentiond how Bush et al ripped off California. Nothing at all. He didn't do that at all or say anything. I don't know why Davis didn't bring this up.

5) The Media: The Media campaigned for Arnold at the outset. This point, although fifth, is the most important to mention here. I used to ridicule those who said that the media was biased against Democrats. Now, through the prism of this election, I agree with them.

The California Recall debacle shows us clearly that the Democrats need a media presence. Years behind their Republican/conservative counterparts the Democrats were not able to advance their message. With talk radio and the apparent campaigning for Arnold by CNN there was no way that they could get their message across. The Democrats need to develop their own media--and do it quickly. It may be too late to do something for the 2004 election, but this media infrastructure must be in place by the 2005-2006 election cycle .

6) Following point #5 the Democrats couldn't stick to a message. There was no clear strategy. At the outset they should have developed one and stuck to it. They didn't and are playing the price.

7) Polling Stations: While I remain skeptical of the BBV claims about this election the fact that they "consolidated" polling stations helped Arnold inevitably. Democrats still haven't learned enough from election 2000 to ensure that the process runs fairly.

8) Life: It just isn't fair. And sometimes you lose. This of course is the most trite explanations. But it is the truth. Sometimes you just aren't meant to win or the dynamics may simply be too much against you. Ultimately that was the case here.