California Recall Down to Wire
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: If you live in California but won't be able to get to the polls on recall election day, you have until the end of business today to pick up an absentee ballot. And the candidates have only a week left to get your vote. Let's go to our national correspondent, Bob Franken. He's on the campaign trail in Los Angeles, joining us now live. What's happening today -- Bob? A week to go.</s>BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A week to go. Who knows where this is going to go? It changes just about every moment, as you well know. Right now, believe it or not, much of the focus is on Arianna Huffington. No, she does not show up very well in the polls; in fact, to the contrary. But the question is not now whether she is going to run, but the question is when she's going to pull out, and when she is going to -- not only when she is going to pull out, but where will her support go. Will it go to a candidate or will it just go to oppose the recall? And it's not, as I said, that she shows up that strongly in the polls, but she might be counted on to energize the liberal Democratic base that is attracted to her and might be needed by Governor Gray Davis in his efforts to stave off a recall. It's looking more and more difficult for Governor Davis. The CNN/"USA Today" poll showed that 63 percent of those who were considered probable voters were going to vote for the recall, which would mean, of course, his term would be terminated. The term, of course, is one that's used a lot by Arnold Schwarzenegger. That very same poll showed that he was leading all of the other candidates by a comfortable margin. And therefore, he is saying absolutely not to continued demands by Davis for a debate. There's going to be a poll that's going to be coming out tomorrow morning, a "Los Angeles Times" poll. It's considered a very reliable one, and people are going to watching very closely to see if it contradicts the CNN poll about the margin, as the Davis people claim, or if it's going to be consistent with that, which would be horrible news for Davis. So, the news is constantly changing out here. This is a story that probably won't even be over on election day, because then, Wolf, the story is going to be the desperate efforts to try and get this counted with so many candidates on a very confusing ballot -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Very briefly, Bob, we know a lot of pressure is on Tom McClintock, the conservative Republican, to drop out, throw his support to Arnold Schwarzenegger. How much pressure, if any, is on Arianna Huffington, the liberal candidate, if you will? Peter Camejo, the Green Party candidate, to drop out, throw their support to Cruz Bustamante, for example, so you don't split that liberal vote?</s>FRANKEN: Well, in the case of the Camejo, the Green Party candidate, Camejo, who does show up a little bit more high on the polls than Arianna Huffington, Camejo says that he is not planning to pull out, but he will not be offended if his supporters vote for Cruz Bustamante. Arianna Huffington has had really some testy exchanges with Bustamante. And so, it will be a debate of where her support can be best applied. Will it be more useful if she just opposes the recall? That's the kind of discussion that's going on. I should point out, by the way, she is having absolutely nothing to say about this.</s>BLITZER: Unusual for Arianna Huffington, having nothing to say about anything. She's usually very outspoken about everything. Bob Franken joining us from Los Angeles. Bob, we'll be checking back with you in the next week obviously many, many times. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.