Sacramento Bee editorial: Vote 'No' on recall

From the Sacramento Bee
Dated Sunday September 28

Vote 'No' on recall
No one, sad to say, looks better than Davis

Lots of high-minded arguments have been offered for and against the recall of Gov. Gray Davis. Some people see recall as a pure exercise in democracy, aimed at bringing an unresponsive government back in line with the public's wishes. Others regard a recall launched against a newly re-elected governor accused of no malfeasance as wrong in principle and likely to launch, as Lt. Gov Cruz Bustamante put it in the debate Wednesday, "an era of perpetual politics."
Those are interesting arguments, but mostly beside the point. The real question for most of us is less about principle than pragmatism: Will voting for recall give California a better governor and a greater chance of solving its problems?
And if you believe the polls, that comes down to an even simpler question: Would electing Democrat Bustamante, the current front-runner, or Arnold Schwarzenegger, the leading Republican, be a trade-up for California?
On the evidence of the last eight weeks, the answer is a firm no.

Read more.
This is not kind to the leading replacement candidates.

"Would electing Democrat Bustamante, the current front-runner"

Hmmm, do they know something about the truth behind the latest poll?

we can only hope they know something the poll did not reveal

"But Schwarzenegger's campaign has been not just a disappointment but an insult to voters. He hid early on from tough press questioning and avoided all but one debate. When he did appear Wednesday, he offered little more than vague pieties and juvenile one-liners. He failed to tell voters how California ought to close its huge budget gap; his one specific proposal, an end to the vehicle license fee that finances local services like police and fire protection, would only make that crisis worse."

Sounds like Arnold's been mimicking the campaigns of other Hollywood types:

Witchiepoo for Mayor (H. R. Pufnstuf)
Penguin for Mayor (Batman)
Sideshow Bob for Mayor (The Simpsons)