SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California Gov. Gavin Newsom's critics almost certainly have qualified a recall election for the ballot, a remarkable feat in the heavily Democratic state.
Now the real work begins. The chance to recapture the governorship in the most populous state is an energizing prospect for Republicans who have been locked out of statewide office for more than a decade.
That was when Arnold Schwarzenegger was ending a governorship that began when he ousted Democratic Gov. Gray Davis in a 2003 recall, the only successful recall of a governor in state history.
But the GOP constitutes just a quarter of voters in California and with no Schwarzenegger-like candidate who is immediately recognizable to voters, it's an uphill climb to