More than 125 candidates file for California recall election

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- As dozens of candidates rushed to meet a Saturday deadline for a once-in-a-lifetime shot at becoming governor, a prominent Democrat dropped out of the race to replace Democratic Gov. Gray Davis if he is ousted in the Oct. 7 recall election.

Insurance commissioner John Garamendi withdrew from the race two hours before the 5 p.m. filing deadline, calling the recall election "a circus." That left just one well-known Democrat, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, in the race to lead the nation's most populous state and the world's sixth-largest economy.

Garamendi's advisers said the former state senator was pressured to stay out by party officials who feared splitting support among Democratic candidates if Davis is toppled.

"I know firsthand that this recall election has become a circus," Garamendi said. "I have concluded I will not engage in this election as a candidate."

Earlier this week, Garamendi and Bustamante shattered party unity by declaring their intention to run, even though both had previously pledged to stay out of the contest. Davis, labor leaders and national party officials had urged Democrats to stay out of the race and instead focus on urging voters to say no on the recall.

By day's end, more than 125 people had filed candidacy papers, including such marquee names as Arnold Schwarzenegger, former baseball commissioner and Olympics chief Peter Ueberroth and political commentator Arianna Huffington.

The burgeoning ballot also included such longshots as Hustler publisher Larry Flynt, a bail bondsman, a discount cigarette chain owner and a medical marijuana activist. More than 470 people had picked up the forms to run.

To get on the ballot, candidates had to either pay a $3,500 filing fee and submit signatures of at least 65 registered voters or skip the fee and submit 10,000 voter signatures.

Hours before the deadline, Schwarzenegger signed autographs to the shrieks of fans as he walked up the steps of the Los Angeles County recorder's office to file as a Republican.

Last ouster in 1921

California has never before held a recall election. The only governor ever recalled by voters was North Dakota's Lynn Frazier, ousted in 1921 as banks were failing, crop prices were plummeting and Frazier was mired in allegations of promoting radical socialism.

The Davis recall effort was considered a longshot until conservative GOP Rep. Darrell Issa pumped $1.7 million of his car alarm fortune into an aggressive signature-gathering campaign. Issa had planned to run as a replacement candidate but dropped out after Schwarzenegger announced Wednesday he was running.

The recall effort built on voter anger over California's flagging economy, the state's record $38 billion deficit and the perception that Davis dithered during a statewide energy crisis that led to rolling blackouts and soaring electricity bills in early 2001.

It took 897,158 voter signatures to get the recall election approved; the secretary of state said 1.3 million valid signatures were turned in.

In the two-part ballot on Oct. 7, voters will first vote on whether Davis should be removed from office, then pick someone to succeed him if he is ousted. Businessman Bill Simon, who lost the November election to Davis, was among those filing Saturday, joining state Sen. Tom McClintock as the two prominent conservative Republicans in the race.

Bustamante filed papers Friday. It was unclear whether Democrats would line up behind his strategy of voting "no" on the recall portion of the ballot, but "yes" for Bustamante in case Davis is voted out.

Huffington, who hugged Schwarzenegger's wife, journalist Maria Shriver, before filing her papers to run, spoke to the crowd, making a pitch for more fuel-efficient vehicles by pointing out that the actor had arrived in an SUV while she had come in a hybrid vehicle. She was met by a few boos and cries of "Arnold, Arnold."

Schwarzenegger, later emerging from the recorder's office, told his fans: "I'm running for governor and I promise you that I will be the people's governor. I will be there for everybody, young and old, men and women alike, it doesn't make any difference."

Shriver, a niece of Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy, praised her husband for "his courage to enter this race."

There were rumors before he announced his candidacy that she did not want him to run. "I think he will represent Democrats, independents and Republicans," she said Saturday.