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Davis ousted in California recall i BY ERICA WERNER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ANGELES (AP) r Californians banished Gov. Gray Davis just 11 months into his sec ond term and overwhelmingly elected action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger to replace him Tuesday — a Hollywood ending to one of the most extraordinary po litical melodramas in the nation’s history. Voters traded a career Democratic politician who be came one of the state’s most de spised chief executives for a mod erate Republican megastar who had never before run for office. Davis became the first California governor pried from office and only the second nationwide to be recalled. “Tonight, the voters did decide it’s time for someone else to serve, and I accept their judgment,” Davis said in conceding. He pledged to work for a smooth tran sition. “I’m calling on everyone ... to put the chaos and division of the recall behind us and do what’s right for this great state of California.” To the victor goes a spoiled American paradise — a state mired in economic troubles, awash with deficits, now governed by a Republican chief executive with no political experience and a Democratic legislature. Partial returns showed the re call favored by 1,718,105 voters, or 54.2 percent, and opposed by 1,454,488, or 45.9 percent. Other returns had Schwarzenegger ahead with 1,439,374 votes; Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante with 924,423; Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock with 376,068; and Green Party candidate Peter Camejo with 70,554. “This is a great day for California.... In response to a com mon danger, the people of California rose to their duties and ordered a new direction for our state,” McClintock said in con ceding. Schwarzenegger prevailed de spite a flurry of negative publici ty in the campaign’s final days, surviving allegations that he had groped women and accusations that as a young man he expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler. The 56-year-old Austrian im migrant — husband of television journalist Maria Shriver — finds himself in charge of the nation’s most populated state with an econ omy surpassed by only five coun tries. He takes office as soon as the election results are certified, no later than Nov. 15. Schwarzenegger promised to return the shine to a Golden State beset by massive budget problems and riven by deep political divi sions. Voters faced two questions — whether to recall Davis, and who among the other candidates should replace him if he was re moved. They chose to get rid of the incumbent and put Schwarzenegger in his place. Exit polling explained why: Many Hispanics and union mem bers — two key groups in Davis’ past electoral successes — desert ed him as he suffered extraordi narily low job approval ratings amid widespread voter discontent about the state’s economy. Davis won election in 1998 with 70 percent support from Hispanics and a similar percentage of voters from union households, and he got about 65 percent of both groups in his re-election last year. But in the recall, about half of Hispanics and of voters with union members in their households voted to recall Davis, according to voter surveys conducted for The Associated Press and other news organiza tions by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International. Seven in 10 voters disapproved of ho w Davis was handling his job. Nearly half of all voters strongly disapproved, and among them, nine in 10 voted for the recall and seven in 10 voted for Schwarzenegger, the exit poll found. Long lines were reported at polling places through the day. By late afternoon, Terri Carbaugh, a spokeswoman for the Secretary of State, said a turnout of 60 percent appeared likely, higher than the 50.7 percent who voted in last November’s gubernatorial elec tion. It would be the highest per centage to vote in a gubernatorial election since 1982. Re-elected last year with less than 50 percent of the vote, Davis fell victim to a groundswell of dis content in a state that has strug gled with its perilous financial condition. As colorless as his name, Davis was also known as a canny politi cian with sharp elbows. Once chief of staff to Gov. Jerry Brown, he rose through the political ranks as a state assemblyman, controller and lieutenant governor, before becoming governor in 1999. By contrast, Schwarzenegger’s political inexperience seemed a virtue to many voters. The actor’s improbable rise to political power played out before a rapt international audience. He announced his candidacy in August on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” after aides said it was certain he wouldn’t run. Other major candidates seek ing to replace Davis were the Democratic lieutenant governor, Cruz Bustamante, conservative Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock and Green Party can- , didate Peter Camejo. The campaign included a pa rade of bit players among the 135 candidates, including Hustler pub lisher Larry Flynt, former child actor Gary Coleman, a publicity hungry porn actress who wanted to tax breast implants and an artist who dressed in all blue and described his candidacy as the ul timate piece of performance art. The cast of characters and out sized ballot gave the campaign a camival-like atmosphere and pro vided late-night comics with a stream of material. But to many Californians, it was serious business. “I’m horrified at the thought that Schwarzenegger can be our governor,” said Gretchen Purswy 25, of Berkeley, who voted agair^P recall. “I’m sick of Republicans trying to take over the state.” Ed Troupe, 69, of Thousand Oaks, voted yes for recall and for Schwarzenegger. “As far as I’m concerned,” he said, “Gray Davis is one of the dirtiest politicians I’ve ever encountered.” Though Schwarzenegger held a commanding lead over his rivals going into the final week, his cam paign was shaken by allegations published in the Los Angeles Times just days before the election from six women who said he groped them or made unwanted sexual advances. Allegations con tinued to surface over the week end, and by election day a total of 16 women had come forward. Schwarzenegger also was ccA fronted with reports that he hm! praised Hitler as a young man — accusations he disputed. Responding to the sexual mis conduct charges, Schwarzenegger acknowledged he had “behaved badly sometimes.” But he attacked the newspaper and some of his ac cusers for what he called a last minute effort to derail his candi dacy. Voters also rejected Proposition 54, a contentious initiative that would have banned state and local governments from tracking race in everything from preschools to police work. Voters across the racial spectrum rejected the mea sure, according to exit polling They also rejected another proposition dedicating money to public works projects. | Davis’ plight reverberated across the nation, to the 18 other states that have initiative, refer endum or recall provisions. If the state that brought us right-on-red is again a pioneer, perpetual cam paigns could become common. Davis stood to become only the second governor in U.S. history to be recalled, after North Dakota’s Lynn Frazier in 1921. The cost of the election to California taxpay ers was estimated at $66 million. The victor will face daunting problems, including an ailing economy, a budget deficitnow es timated at $8 billion and a tax-and spending system many believe needs serious reform. . PHOTO COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS California voters overwhelmingly chose Arnold Schwarzenegger to replace Gov. Gray Davis. Hotel CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Columbia hotels. He said a new USC inn would accommodate the Advocacy Center’s overflow at the expense of these downtown hotels. But Susie Van Huss, USC Foundations director, said the gradual occupancy phase-in was implicated so local hotels wouldn’t feel the brunt of the competition all at once. “There’s a lot to be said for peo ple to be working together instead of fighting,” Van Huss said. She said the hotel will not divert a sig nificant amount of occupants from private businesses and that much of the hotel owner’s objections stemmed from misunderstand ings. “There was a lot of misinfor mation that was out there,” she said. More importantly, Van Huss said, the hotel will serve as a mod el for possible future public-pri vate partnerships like the re search campus. She said USC is turning to pub lic-private partnerships after state budget cuts left the university un derfunded. “We can languish here, or we can go out and be entrepreneuri al and create our own opportuni ties,” Huss said. But Wislinski sees USC’s pub lic-private interaction in a differ ent way. “The university has wrapped this, almost as one would in an American flag, in public-private partnerships,” he said. “This is re ally about taking market share from eight downtown hotels.” Columbia City Council is ^ pected to give second reading to day to a rezoning request that will allow the $12.5 million hotel to move forward. If the request pass es on third reading next week, land on Pendleton Street will be rezoned from C-l, a designation that does not allow hotels, to Planned Unit Development, and the inn could be completed by 2005. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Motorola v6oi Phat. Phones • # with sweet games. # voice dialing. # custom ringtones. # check out our cool calling plans, too. starting as low as $30 a month. ADsT Wireless WeGetit. 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