The political debate, critics sneered, was to be a totally canned affair, with participants rattling off rehearsed answers to questions that had been distributed to the public-and the candidates-two weeks ago.
Even Arnold Schwarzenegger, under fire for limiting his debate participation to the only event with pre-announced questions, sent a letter to the organizers, urging them to change the format. But as it turned out, no one who saw last night’s free-for-all in Sacramento had to switch channels for comic relief. The debate, ripe with accusations, interruptions, barbs and knee-slapping ripostes, was more entertaining than any game show. At one point, the exasperated moderator said he was going to have to adjust his medication if the unruly candidates wouldn’t mind their manners. But whether the program informed California’s anxious and befuddled electorate on the eve of the historic Oct. 7 recall election is an entirely different question.
In addition to Schwarzenegger, the debate, sponsored by the California Broadcasters Association and held at Cal State Sacramento, featured his main opponent, Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante as well as Republican Tom McClintock, commentator Arianna Huffington, who is running as an independent, and Peter Camejo of the Green Party. It was supposed to be Schwarzenegger’s Big Mo: a chance for him to show his critics that he really is a man of substance and to face off with McClintock, the plucky state senator who has increasingly drained conservative Republican voters from Schwarzenegger’s column and forced him into a virtual tie with Bustamante. Schwarzenegger may have succeeded, at least in part, in his first ambition, but he did little to diminish McClintock. And Schwarzenegger clearly benefited from low expectations. “As long as he doesn’t drool, you guys are going to say he did OK,” said Chris Lehane, one of several Democratic operatives working the press room on behalf of Gray Davis, who was not invited to the evening’s event. (Organizers said the event was designed to introduce voters to his would-be replacements and that Davis had been given equal time at a town hall meeting with voters two weeks ago.) Lehane, who served as Al Gore’s press secretary, knows all about low expectations: he watched his candidate sigh and “lockbox” his way to defeat in his debates against the supposedly dim-witted George W. Bush during the 2000 presidential campaign.
Schwarzenegger, of course, did not drool. Looking tanned and dapper, he delivered his now-familiar lines about “cleaning up” Sacramento and bringing relief to California’s overtaxed, overregulated business owners with panache and confidence. He offered nothing new in terms of specifics, but then neither did the other candidates-with the exception of McClintock, who is renowned in Sacramento for his mastery of financial and budgetary arcana. When Bustamante tried to claim credit for a recent reform of the state’s bankrupt workers’-compensation program, Schwarzenegger cut him off. “That reform was pre-election bogus,” he interjected. “You guys put wool over the people’s eyes. We have a three-strike system-you did it three times, now you’re out.” As Bustamante sputtered, the audience burst into applause and cheers. Watching Arnold grin, as he triumphantly planted his elbows on the V-shaped table where the candidates were seated, it wasn’t hard to imagine him honing his bomb-throwing skills during 20 years of Thanksgiving dinners with his Kennedy in-laws.
From then on, the food fight was on. The spiciest exchanges took place between Schwarzenegger and Huffington, who has been a gadfly in the superstar’s campaign since the day Schwarzenegger filed his candidate’s papers and Huffington knocked over a microphone stand as she rushed to get in the picture with him. As Huffington railed against corporate corruption and tax loopholes during her answer to one question, Schwarzenegger chided her for her own income-tax shelters, which recently made the front page of the Los Angeles Times. “Arianna, your personal income tax has the biggest loophole. I can drive my Hummer through it.” More hoots and howls from the audience. A few minutes later, Huffington began criticizing the Bush administration’s tax policy. “If you want to campaign against Bush, go to New Hampshire, you are in the wrong state,” Schwarzenegger chided. As the audience cackled, Schwarzenegger seemed more frat boy than gubernatorial candidate. “Maybe you need more decaf.” As Huffington struggled to retake the stage, Schwarzenegger continued to talk over her-and Huffington took her shot. “This is the way you treat women,” she finally blurted. “We know that.”
By this point, the audience was howling and the moderator became an umpire. Ruling that Huffington had committed a “direct and personal attack,” an apparent violation of the mysterious rules, the ump gave Arnold a free throw. “I just want to say I have a perfect part for you in ‘Terminator 4’,” he shot back. “That’s all I can say.” At this point, the moderator had practically given up trying to shush the crowd. “Ladies and gentleman, this is not Comedy Central,” he shouted over the hubbub. “I’m serious.”
Arnold’s laugh line may have brought down the house, but it could also hurt him with women voters, who are already skeptical of his candidacy, according to most polls. Huffington appeared in the press room during the postdebate spinning session to profess her outrage at Schwarzenegger making light of a scene in ‘Terminator 3,’ in which his character stuffs the head of a murderous female robot down the toilet. Asked earlier about his choice of words, Schwarzenegger told reporters he thought the exchange had been “entertaining” and wondered if he and Huffington should take their show “on the road.” “I don’t find it at all entertaining,” Huffington responded. “I’m going to expose him for the phony he is.”
The fireworks between Huffington and Schwarzenegger all but overshadowed the impressive performance of McClintock, who rattled off statistics and policy reforms with a thoroughness no other candidate could match-all while he gracefully fended off repeated rumors that he would soon drop out of the race to clear the field for Schwarzenegger. The fracas also spared Bustamante much scrutiny for his weak performance. Although Bustamante began by telling the audience he thought the recall of was a “terrible idea,” he offered little in the way of defense of the current Democratic administration. Asked by Huffington why Davis had allowed state college tuitions to rise, Bustamante responded, “Go ask him.” A 30-year veteran of state government, Bustamante managed to sound condescending instead of knowledgeable by prefacing many of his answers with “What you don’t understand is this-.” When challenged by Schwarzenegger on everything from insurance to immigration, he responded with sarcasm unleavened by even a hint of humor. “Yes, Arnold, mmm. Hmm. Oh right, Arnold” he murmured, instead of responding substantively to Schwarzenegger’s accusations that he and Gray Davis were responsible for the state’s failures.
The first overnight polls suggest that many viewers, while entertained, found little in the debate to help them make up their minds. And that also seemed to be the case in the student union at Sacramento State. “I wasn’t impressed with any of them,” said Courtney Buehler, a freshman who stood on the staircase outside the debate hall, straining for a glimpse of Arnold. Buehler said she had recently registered as a Republican and was considering voting for Schwarzenegger but wasn’t persuaded by his performance. “I think he’s intelligent, but he doesn’t have the experience,” she said. “I guess I’ll vote for McClintock.” Without a clear winner, voters may well go back to the question of whether they will support the recall in the first place. If that’s the case, then the “winner” of last night’s free-for-all could well be the man who wasn’t there. Gray Davis was home watching TV, trying like everyone else to figure out who wants to be governor of California-and maybe having the last laugh.
