And the possibility still exists that tribes will oppose the recall. After all, it was Davis who granted them the exclusive gambling rights they had sought for so many years and had failed to secure under Republican Gov. Pete Wilson. So far, no tribes have publicly stated plans to support the recall.
"Has Gray Davis really done that bad of a job?" asked Vincent Armenta, chairman of the Santa Ynez Band of Mission Indians. "I think it is pretty difficult to blame one individual for all of the state's problems."
Tribes are taking a wait-and-see approach.
"Nobody is showing their hands in any significant way," said Howard Dickstein, a Sacramento attorney who represents several tribes.
Armenta said he hopes to meet next week with Bustamante, Davis and McClintock. "I believe all of them have potential to be a decent governor," Armenta said.
Deron Marquez, chairman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, said his tribe has decided to sit out the recall campaign, at least for the time being.
"In my mind, the recall is more than a done deal. I think the governor is on his way out," he said. "We're just basically waiting to see who is for real and who is not."
Many of the tribes want to see where the candidates stand on expanded tribal casinos and whether California should authorize slot machines at card rooms and horse tracks, a proposition the tribes oppose.
"Like a lot of special interests, tribal casino leaders will invest in a lot of candidates when they're not certain of the outcome," said former Assembly Speaker Leo McCarthy, a San Francisco Democrat and a critic of expanded gambling. "They'll bet on more than one horse."
The ability of the tribes to influence an election was illustrated in the Los Angeles mayor's race in 2001. Antonio Villaraigosa had angered the tribes by the way he handled their issues when he was Assembly speaker, so they launched a mail campaign attacking him as being soft on crime. He lost to James K. Hahn.
"The tribes played hardball against Villaraigosa, letting him know and everybody else that if they oppose the tribes, they will come in and pour massive amounts of money against them -- and massive amounts of money they have," said Robert Stern, head of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles.
Under Davis, Las Vegas-style gambling has exploded on reservations throughout California, particularly in San Diego County and the Palm Springs area. In 2000, voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure granting tribes exclusive rights to operate slot machines.
