Will the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger open the door for a flood of recall votes across the nation?Drake University political science professor Dennis Goldford says voters chose the bodybuilder and movie actor in part because of a combination of events that had voters deeply dissatisfied.He calls what happened to governor Gray Davis the “political equivalent of the perfect storm.” Davis was elected by a solid margin late in 2002, but Goldford says a couple major events were enough to turn around his public approval. The California economy tanked because of the “dot-bomb” — the dot-com bubble bursting, and then the Enron scandal led to an energy crisis and skyrocketing prices and Davis didn’t appear to deal well with that. Plus, Goldford says Gray Davis won his reelection a year ago not so much because he was well-liked, but because no strong GOP candidate ran against him. You had someone who Goldford says was not well-loved, but “you can’t beat somebody with nobody,” the the only alternative in the last election was somebody most people didn’t want. Goldford says the recall is a valid part of politics, just like the election process. He says it reflects a kind of tension, between stability and accountability.
