SAN FRANCISCO — Gov. Gray Davis, a longtime political centrist, appealed aggressively Saturday to his Democratic base, hoping to cast the upcoming campaign in sharply partisan terms to survive California's first statewide recall election.
Davis made his second trip in three days to San Francisco, the state's most enduring Democratic stronghold, this time for his first rally of the recall campaign. Joining him on stage was a cast of well-known Democrats: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Mayor Willie Brown and Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the party's national committee.
With a banner proclaiming "Democrats United" as his backdrop, Davis told 250 cheering supporters that the recall would threaten legal abortion, gun control, labor protections, gay rights, public schools and preservation of the California coastline.
"This is not simply about me," he said. "This is about all Californians who believe in a progressive agenda."
Davis' appearance came as Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, responding to an appeals court ruling last week, ordered county registrars to verify all voter signatures on recall petitions submitted to them by July 16 and forward their findings to Shelley next week.
Since proponents turned in about 1.6 million signatures, and fewer than 900,000 are needed for the recall to reach the ballot, Shelley's directive makes it likely that he would certify next week that the recall has qualified for an election. If so, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante must schedule the election to take place within 60 to 80 days. The election could occur as early as Sept. 30.
In San Francisco, Davis already was speaking as if the election were on, staging a campaign kickoff that was an overt display of his widening effort to mobilize Democrats. Their support is crucial to his campaign, but by no means assured; the most recent Times Poll found that one in three Democrats would vote to toss Davis out of office.
An immediate goal for him as the campaign starts is to win back those wayward Democrats. Over the last 10 days, Davis has appealed for support among Latinos, African Americans and Asians -- all core Democratic constituencies. He also has sharpened his rhetoric against Republican lawmakers who have proposed billions of dollars in cuts to public schools and health care, among other things, rather than raising taxes, as Davis has suggested.
"The Republicans' intransigence has taken us to the brink of disaster," he charged on one Los Angeles radio show.
