Support for California Gov. Gray Davis (D), who faces a recall election on Oct. 7, eroded dramatically yesterday as the wall of Democratic Party solidarity he had hoped would protect him collapsed in the wake of actor Arnold Schwarzenegger's decision to enter the recall fray as a Republican.
A trio of powerful San Francisco Democrats -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Mayor Willie Brown -- all either criticized Davis or went frosty in their support. California Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante (D) and Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi (D), both proven statewide vote-getters, put their names on the ballot to replace Davis should he lose the recall, foiling Davis's plan to survive by giving Democratic voters no alternative to keeping him in office.
Another of Davis's survival strategies -- to demonize Rep. Darrell Issa (R) for bankrolling the recall effort -- went flat when Issa took himself out of the race.
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But leading Democrats expressed doubts that the party can unify around an alternative to Davis. The strongest shot as a white knight, in the view of party strategists, was Feinstein, who decided Wednesday to stay out of the fray and fight the recall. Another widely mentioned rescuer, former California congressman Leon E. Panetta, said yesterday evening that he will not run and that he does not expect any other senior Democrats to enter the race.
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