To the Point

California Recall Election on Hold: Florida 2000 Redux?

When the US Supreme Court intervened in Florida three years ago, Democrats called it judicial partisanship that handed the presidency to George W. Bush. Now, Republicans charge that a federal appellate court is delaying California-s recall election in order to help Governor Gray Davis keep his job. Oddly, both courts used the same legal arguments. While election officials and lawyers try to sort it all out, Davis, Arnold Schwarzenegger and the other candidates are marking time. Will the public be better served if the election is next month or next March? Should the US Supreme Court step in again? We hear from journalists and pollsters, the head of the California Democratic and Republican Parties, legal experts, the man who led the signature-gathering campaign that put the recall on the ballot, and the co-counsel for the plaintiffs in the punch-card voting case. Reporter's Notebook: Reagan Biographer on Recall, Arnold for Governor The presence of Arnold Schwarzenegger has brought international attention to California-s recall campaign. Schwarzenegger is just one in a line of actors-turned- candidates, the most notable being Ronald Reagan. Lou Cannon covered that campaign and went on to become White House correspondent for the Washington Post during Reagan-s presidency. Cannon has just published Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power.