NO WONDER THEY THINK WE'RE ALL
A BUNCH OF FRUITS & NUTS
Over 250 people -- including porn king Larry Flynt -- have taken the first steps toward placing their names on the ballot. In the event that we decide to toss our governor out the door the single person, of the 250, with the most votes gets to be governor of California. There is no run-off. A person with less than 5% of the votes could become governor.

I don't understand why it is that the lieutenant governor wouldn’t automatically become governor in the event of a recall. But it appears that for some reason it doesn't work that way (too logical, I suppose).

Last week S.F. Chronicle columnist Harley Sorensen proposed a clever out for Davis. If things start looking really bleak he could just resign before the recall election. That would put the lieutenant governor, Cruz Bustamante, a Democrat like Davis, into the office and stop the election machine.

Sorensen writes, "In the best Machiavellian solution to his problem, Davis could resign, Bustamante would take over, Bustamante would then appoint Davis as his lieutenant governor and then resign himself, propelling Davis back into the governor's chair. Davis could then appoint Bustamante lieutenant governor, and everything would be back to what the voters decided last November."

I'm no fan of Davis. I've never voted for him. I suspect that he is incompetent. But he IS the same governor we RE-elected 10 months ago and he hasn't screwed anything up since then that wasn't already screwed up before then. And he hasn't committed any crimes. Nor is he suspected of committing crimes.

It's all a Republican crap shoot. The problem is that if Davis actually survives this thing (and that is possible if all the people who voted for him in November do the same again -- if for no other reason than to spite the political game players) he would end up with more political clout than he had before. And the Republicans would only have themselves to blame.

But then again, maybe Davis will lose and Flynt will become governor. That would be a Chamber of Commerce moment.

I suppose the good side of it would be that the late night comedians would finally have some new comic fodder -- now that Jesse the Body Ventura is out of office in Minnesota.

Maybe we are a bunch of fruits and nuts.