Recall: California's Political Earthquake

Considering just how entertaining the whole thing was, it's hard not to be a little dissapointed with Recall: California's Political Earthquake. The book provides an accurate, if rather dry, analysis of how and why Arnold Schwarzenegger won the election and it provides a nicely evenhanded account of the "groping" accusations that dominated the final week of the campaign. As well, it also provides a very strong (and useful) analysis of why the voters decided to dump Gray Davis; an analysis that makes it clear that Davis's defeat had less to do with any partisan feelings or any psychological need to send a message to either President Bush or Congressional Democrats but instead had more to do with the fact that Davis was -- for lack of a better term -- kind of a jerk. Though Davis and Schwarzenegger dominate the book's reporting, the authors also take the time to detail how the recall movement went from being an exercise in fringe politics to a genuine grassroots movement.

Still, regardless of how accurate the analysis often is, this book fails to show why the California recall election became such a juicy soap opera. It captures the reasons behind the election but absolutely none of the excitement. While the book does devote a few brief paragraphs to the other major candidates -- Cruz Bustamante, Arianna Huffington, Tom McClintock, Peter Camejo, and Peter Ueberroth -- one still feels that their stories have been slighted in favor of the Davis/Schwarzenegger battle. While this is understandable, it is still hard not to regret that the authors couldn't find the time to go into more detail about how Huffington became the candidate of Malibu or how Bustamante managed to go from being one of California's top politicians to an almost stereotypical party hack in just a matter of days after announcing he would be a candidate. A short shrift is especially given to both McClintock and Camejo, the only two major candidates running as champions of political ideology and whose presence as potential spoilers should inspire hope amonst jaded political observers that candidates actually can still get some sort of attention based on their platforms as opposed to their personalities. And lastly, Ueberroth's campaign was a truly tagic one for anyone with the memory necessary to recall the days when this man was reguarly toted as a future President. His absolute failure to make any impact in the race is something that truly deserves to be studied and unfortunately, this book doesn't do that.

And what about the other hundred and whatever candidates who ran in that election? They get a brief mention and a few are listed by name (along with a description of what made them stand out) but -- considering that their valiant if bizarre campaigns pretty much made California the perfect microcosm of everything that is great and bad about democracy -- it's impossible to feel that the authors really did miss out on just what exactly made this election worthy of a book in the first place. Yes, Arnie may have been elected and Davis's fall might have represented the end of a certain type of politician but beyond all that, how can you talk about this election without making more than a brief mention of paralyzed pornographer Larry Flynt's campaign? How could you ignore the undeniably cute, if radically left-wing, computer programmer Georgy Russell and how she build up a considerable following by selling "Georgy-For-Governor" underwear on her web site? Where's erstwhile Diff'rent Strokes survivor Gary Coleman and his legalize marijuana platform or -- my personal choice if I'd been a California citizen in 2003 -- Republican bar owner and self-described "former party girl" Reva Rennee Renz? Nearly 200 people ran against Davis and Schwarzenegger and they made this election. Regardless of how successful the final results are analyzed, by totally ignoring Arnie and Davis's energetic co-stars, this book misses what made the recall such a wonderful thing.

In the end, if you just want (or need) the basic facts about the recall, this book is a good place to get them. However, if you're looking for a book that truly captures the excitement, the humor, the tragedy, and the ultimate meaning of the election -- well, I fear that book hasn't been written yet.