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California AFL-CIO asks Dems to stay off recall ballotArianna Huffington indicates she's running
SACRAMENTO, California (CNN) -- In a bid to thwart the recall of Gov. Gray Davis, California's AFL-CIO is urging Democratic officeholders not to jump into the race to succeed the embattled governor should voters toss him from office. "We are united against the recall of Governor Davis and urge all potential Democratic candidates to stay off the recall ballot," wrote Art Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation, in a letter sent to Democratic elected officials Saturday and released Tuesday. "United, we will defeat this ultra-conservative coup attempt." The federation, which is the state-level AFL-CIO organization, represents more than 1,300 local unions with 2.1 million members -- a key constituency for any Democratic officeholder who might be thinking of breaking ranks and entering the race. The letter was sent as some prominent Democrats in the state -- including Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. Loretta Sanchez -- have publicly suggested that someone from the party needs to run in the October 7 election so that a Republican will not take over as governor if Davis is recalled. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, one of the state's most popular politicians, is most often mentioned, but she has said she has no plans to run. The Davis camp has been trying to prevent any Democrat from running on the theory that the governor will have a better chance of uniting Democratic voters against the recall if it will result in a GOP governor. In his letter, Pulaski said labor leaders "anticipate that you will work with us over the next week to maintain this clear, united message and that you will do everything in your power to campaign against the recall between now and the election." Davis was in Chicago Tuesday addressing a gathering of national AFL-CIO leaders. The recall election will have two parts. First, voters will be asked whether to recall Davis. Then, they will get to choose from a list of possible successors. If the first vote goes against Davis, the candidate who wins the most votes in the second question will be California's new governor. Monday, Davis filed a complaint challenging the recall effort and seeking to delay it.(Full story) Saturday is the deadline for candidates to file the paperwork to run in the second ballot. Tuesday, syndicated columnist Arianna Huffington issued a statement saying she would announce her decision on whether to run for governor Wednesday afternoon at a center for at-risk children in Los Angeles. But she dropped a strong hint that she will indeed run, asking supporters "to join me as I make the leap from analysis to action -- from columnist to candidate." Huffington's ex-husband, former Rep. Michael Huffington, who narrowly lost a Senate race to Feinstein in 1994, has also said he is considering running for governor, adding a strange twist to an eclectic field that already includes pornographer Larry Flynt. In an interview Tuesday with CNN's "Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics," the man beaten by Davis nine months ago, Republican businessman Bill Simon, held back from an announcement of his expected candidacy, saying he would declare his intentions "soon." "I'm looking at it very closely, and we've got a team ready to go," he said. Last November, Davis won a second term with 47 percent of the vote, compared to 42 percent for Simon, whose chaotic campaign was widely criticized. But the defeated candidate said his campaign has been vindicated by subsequent events, including a $38 billion budget deficit that has pushed Davis' approval ratings to historic lows. "[Davis] said a week before the election the budget deficit would be about $12 billion. I said that it would be well in excess of $20 billion. He accused me of playing politics, but now the record shows who was right," Simon said. Another often-mentioned GOP candidate, film star Arnold Schwarzenegger, will make a final announcement on whether he will run Wednesday on NBC's "Tonight Show with Jay Leno." However, he is widely expected to say that he will not enter the race. That would clear the way for former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, a moderate Republican who has expressed interest in running if Schwarzenegger does not. Riordan ran for governor in 2002 but was defeated by Simon in the GOP primary. Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican from San Diego County who used his personal fortune to bankroll the petition drive that led to the recall, is also running.
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