AHC: Gray Davis survives Recall election

AHC: Gray Davis survives 2003 Recall election

In 2003 California Governor Gray Davis was recalled and succeeded by Arnold Schwarzenegger. My challenge to you is, keep Davis in office either by:

1. Have the recall be voted no, or...

2. have him win the recall by any margin.
 
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In 2003 California Governor Gray Davis was recalled and succeeded by Arnold Schwarzenegger. My challenge to you is, keep Davis in office either by:

1. Have the recall be voted no, or...

2. have him win the recall by any margin.

The big thing that killed Gray Davis was the manipulation of the energy market by Enron and other companies. The best way to do this is either 1) stop deregulation of energy in California or 2) have Davis tell the Feds to jump in a lake and go all ahead full with a very publicized civil suit. If Davis can credibly claim he fought tooth and nail for the state of California that could save him in the recall assuming it doesn't take the wind out of the effort completely.

If you don't need Arnie in the picture it becomes much easier. Let's say Arnold decides it's more fun being a rich, retired movie star than going into politics. Remove the Governator from the picture and the de factor GOP candidate is Darrell Issa, one of the men who spearheaded the recall effort. Issa tried running for Senate in 1998 only to lose the primary and he lacks Ahnuld's star power so it's possible with a divided GOP field (Issa will NOT be able to unite the party the way Arnold did) Davis could win.
 
The California recall was going nowhere until Darryl Issa(*) contributed $2 million to the effort, thinking he could win on the recall ballot. At the time, the conventional wisdom was that Schwarzenegger would not run. Once Schwarzenegger announced, Issa declined to run.

So: make it clear early on that Schwarzenegger does intend to run, Issa likely keeps his money, and the recall goes nowhere. Schwarzenegger then wins big in 2006, IMO.

(*) Unsolicited personal political opinion: Issa is one of the most truly despicable self-interested jerks in politics. He does not feature prominently enough in most dystopias on this board, IMO.
 
Unsolicited personal political opinion: Issa is one of the most truly despicable self-interested jerks in politics. He does not feature prominently enough in most dystopias on this board, IMO.

Having been a resident of the region where he was elected (I was stuck with "Duke" Pisspot Cunningham) I can say I am very thankful he has not. Issa with more charisma and less obvious, oozing smarm is the kind of monster that would keep me up at night.
 
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