Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan is close to taking over Arnold Schwarzenegger's political team to run a possible campaign for governor in the Oct. 7 recall election, Riordan's advisors said Thursday.
For Riordan, a Republican who began serious campaign preparations less than two weeks ago, taking over Schwarzenegger's operation could ease a sudden entrance into a race that poses enormous strategic challenges for all the GOP candidates.
Collectively, they must persuade voters to vote yes on dumping Democratic incumbent Gray Davis, while simultaneously campaigning against one another in the winner-takes-all race to succeed him.
The race could be further complicated by the presence of Democratic candidates who could urge voters to keep Davis as governor while presenting themselves as viable alternatives in case he is kicked out of office.
Turning to Schwarzenegger's staff would give Riordan one of the most seasoned campaign teams in California politics. Many strategists see a strong, cohesive campaign team as particularly important for Riordan. They say his overwhelming defeat in the GOP primary last year was at least partly the result of staff disarray fostered by the candidate.
Already, some party strategists have expressed worries that history was repeating itself.
"Spring training has not been a pretty sight," said one Republican strategist, referring to initial signs of blurry lines of authority on the nascent Riordan campaign team.
Led by strategist George Gorton, the Schwarzenegger advisors are largely the same group that guided former Gov. Pete Wilson to a string of victories in the 1980s and '90s. They prepared for months to run a campaign that would have cast Schwarzenegger as an outsider poised to shake up the state Capitol. Riordan is likely to adopt that stance as well.
Candidates face an Aug. 9 deadline to get their names on the ballot. People close to Schwarzenegger say he is all but sure to stay out of the race. But the "Terminator" star has not announced whether he would run and is unlikely to do so before next week, Gorton said. Schwarzenegger will announce his intentions in an appearance Wednesday on the "Tonight Show," his spokesman Sean Walsh said Thursday.
Gorton confirmed that he might go to work as Riordan's top strategist, but said the deal was "not set."
Noelia Rodriguez, press secretary to First Lady Laura Bush and a former top Riordan aide at City Hall, would be the ex-mayor's No. 1 person on the campaign, he said.
