California Delay Deepens Already Bitter National Gulf
Take a disputed election and toss in a controversial court decision and suddenly California looks an awful lot like Florida.
The recall vote, with its eccentric cast of characters, has been a source of great mirth to many outsiders looking in. But with Monday's move to delay the Oct. 7 election, the race has suddenly been converted from a curiosity into a national rallying cry for partisans on both sides.
To Republicans, the decision underscores the wanton will of the activist judges they rail against, suggesting judicial appointments could become a higher-profile issue in next year's presidential campaign.
To Democrats, the mere thought of the Supreme Court stepping into yet another election fight is enough to incite outrage and, potentially, boost voter turnout next year.
The result is more partisan division, a bitterness that may spill over to the 2004 contest and open a gulf even deeper than the one that produced the last 50-50 presidential election.
"The truth is, we're seeing the increased polarization of American politics manifest itself very dramatically in this recall," said Bill Carrick, a Democratic strategist who lives in Los Angeles and works for Democratic Rep. Richard A. Gephardt, a presidential hopeful from Missouri.
"There's been a whole series of events that cause people to say, 'I'm on this team. I'm not even going to look at the other team.' "
Unlike the aftermath in Florida, it is no longer just Democrats accusing their opponents of stop-at-nothing treachery.
After Monday's decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Republicans across the country are seething as well, using some of the very same language heard from Democrats more than 2 1/2 years ago when the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5 to 4 to end the Florida vote count, putting George W. Bush in the White House.
"There's a feeling that liberals will do anything to win," said Stephen Moore, a conservative activist in Washington. "They're relying on these three rogue judges to overturn and essentially take the ballot away from voters."
As Republicans hastened to point out, the judges who ordered the postponement were all appointed by Democratic presidents.
"The action of the 9th Circuit is just another brick in the edifice of judicial overreaching that conservatives complain about," said William Kristol, publisher of the Weekly Standard magazine and a prominent voice in conservative circles.
