Published: October 19, 2003
ERKELEY, Calif., Oct. 18 — The California recall election is over, but the political fallout among Democrats is not.
That became clear on Saturday when one of the state's top Democrats, Attorney General Bill Lockyer, told a conference here that he not only understood why so many Californians had voted for Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Republican governor-elect, but also that he had voted for Mr. Schwarzenegger.
Mr. Lockyer, a liberal Democrat who had served 25 years in the State Legislature and had helped lead George S. McGovern's presidential campaign in 1972 in California, said it was the first time he had voted for a Republican in a partisan election.
"I am tired of transactional, cynical, deal-making politics," Mr. Lockyer said. "I want to see principled leadership. And yes, he may be naïve about that. But you know what? It is real."
Mr. Lockyer later said he had been drawn to Mr. Schwarzenegger by the candidate's can-do attitude.
"It is just hopeful and optimistic and positive and problem solving," he said. "I don't know any other way to describe it. People vote more for the person than the philosophy. It was just voting for the person that made sense."
Mr. Lockyer, 62, is not just any Democrat breaking ranks with the party: until the recall election, on Oct. 7, he had openly set his sights on the governor's office in 2006, when the four-year term of the outgoing Democratic governor, Gray Davis, was to end. The secretary of state's office said Mr. Lockyer's "Lockyer 2006" committee had more than $10 million as of June.
Asked after he spoke what effect his vote for Mr. Schwarzenegger might have on his standing in the Democratic Party and his own ambitions, Mr. Lockyer replied: "I don't know. I don't care. I am just doing what is right. It's a new me."
The announcement surprised the audience of about 200 academics, campaign consultants and journalists gathered at the University of California for a daylong discussion about the recall and its aftermath.
Mr. Lockyer, the lunchtime speaker, talked of his recent marriage and the birth of a son, Diego, two events that he said had changed his outlook on life.
Mr. Lockyer said he became convinced shortly after the election that he had made the right decision in backing Mr. Schwarzenegger when he met with the governor elect and disclosed how he had voted.
"He said, `Bill, you listen to my heart, not my party,' " Mr. Lockyer recalled. "Now how can you not love somebody that feels that way about it? I hope I am not being conned. I think the voters hope they are not being conned, because we really want and deserve people who genuinely want to see that little Diego should live safely and should go to good schools and have health care if he needs it."
Asked later what he meant about being conned, Mr. Lockyer referred to Mr. Schwarzenegger's self-promotion as a bodybuilder and actor.
"Those that have looked at the old stories know that there was a time in Arnold's life when he would try to psych out competitors and play mind games with them and so on," Mr. Lockyer said. "I don't think that is what he is doing. But there is that possibility. I hope a slim one."
On the subject of accusations of sexual misconduct against Mr. Schwarzenegger, Mr. Lockyer said that he had no doubt that the basic accusations against Mr. Schwarzenegger were true, but that Mr. Schwarzenegger had learned from his mistakes and should be given a second chance.
That was a stark contrast to Mr. Lockyer's remarks several days before the election, when, campaigning with Governor Davis, he called for an official investigation of the accusations.
"I'm convinced Arnold really didn't understand that he was caught up in this frat-boy behavior, and it was accepted too frequently in that industry," Mr. Lockyer said on Saturday. "So it is part of the culture. And I think he really genuinely means to not do that. So I give him the benefit of the doubt."
Mr. Lockyer was a critic of the recall from the beginning, standing at Mr. Davis's side until the end. Mr. Lockyer said on Saturday that he remained an opponent of the recall, having voted no on the question of whether Mr. Davis should be removed from office. He described the recall mechanism as destructive and said it would be "very unwise" for Democrats to deploy it against Mr. Schwarzenegger, as some have speculated might happen.
Mr. Lockyer said he had intended to follow the advice of Senator Dianne Feinstein, who encouraged her fellow Democrats to vote no on the recall and also not select a replacement candidate. But Mr. Lockyer said he had changed his mind on Election Day. He said he was not enthusiastic about any of the other 134 candidates.
He said he would have voted for Mr. Davis had the governor's name been allowed on the replacement list.
As for Lt. Gov. Cruz M. Bustamante, the only Democratic officeholder to run for Mr. Davis's job and also a possible rival to Mr. Lockyer in 2006, Mr. Lockyer suggested he had "made it harder" for Mr. Davis to beat the recall.
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