Charges leveled on all recall fronts [San Jose Mercury News]

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/6938729.htm

Posted on Sun, Oct. 05, 2003

Charges leveled on all recall fronts
By BARRY WITT
San Jose Mercury News

California's grand political show exploded with an extraordinary display of charges and acrimony Saturday, three days before voters will decide whether to recall a sitting governor in mid-term for the first time in state history.

While Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Republican with the best chance of replacing Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, accused the state's largest newspaper of conspiring with Davis to undermine his campaign, Democrats fired back on any number of fronts. Davis himself suggested Schwarzenegger had committed criminal acts; Jewish legislators tried to associate the Austrian-born Schwarzenegger with Adolf Hitler; the chairman of the state Democratic Party said the actor needed sex counseling; and the wives of both Davis and Schwarzenegger rose to defend the integrity of their husbands.

Polls open at 7 a.m. Tuesday morning.

The backdrop for the rising rhetoric is two-fold: a series of voter surveys -- including one released today by the Mercury News -- showing solid support for recalling Davis and replacing him with Schwarzenegger; and the hope that Democrats can turn the tide by exploiting last-minute reports that Schwarzenegger had groped women and made a statement admiring Hitler's powers of persuasion 28 years ago.