| ||
| ||
| ||
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Huffington might run for California governor
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Former GOP congressman Michael Huffington will likely run for governor on the hotly contested California recall ballot. Huffington -- whose former wife, columnist Arianna Huffington, has been rumored as a possible Democratic candidate -- obtained the necessary nomination paperwork and paid the required $3,500 filing fee Friday. California voters will go to the polls on October 7, when they will be asked to choose whether to recall embattled Gov. Gray Davis -- and, if so, who his replacement should be. Candidates who wish to replace Davis as governor have until August 9 to complete the paperwork. "Mr. Huffington, like all Californians, is deeply disturbed by the existing fiscal crisis that clearly adversely affects a broad range of issues from job creation to the credibility of all educational and governmental institutions in California," campaign spokesman Bruce Nestande said in a written statement. He said Huffington will make a final decision regarding his candidacy in the next two weeks. Davis has faced an avalanche of criticism for his handling of the state's fiscal crisis, triggered by a staggering $38 billion deficit. Wednesday, election officials from California's 58 counties reported more than 1.3 million valid signatures, more than the 897,158 needed to trigger the first recall of a governor in the state's history. Huffington's campaign spokesman said that his candidacy would thwart Davis' accusations that the move to oust him was politically motivated. "Mike Huffington's candidacy would discredit the desperate claims by Gray Davis that the governor's office will be captured by a right-wing conspiracy," Nestande said. According to Nestande, Huffington feels his background in finance makes him qualified to deal with the state's "deepening financial crisis." Davis has said that the recall is less about him and more about the desire of Republicans to stop what he has termed a "progressive" agenda -- support for abortion rights, gun control, education reform and health care for children. Huffington, the son of Texas oil billionaire Roy Huffington, lost to Sen. Dianne Feinstein by a narrow margin in the 1994 race for U.S. Senate. Before that, he represented California's 22nd District in the House.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
