Gov. Davis Comes Out Fighting In Round 2 of Recall Campaign (washingtonpost.com): " Now, he is warning that California could soon be 'hijacked' by radical right-wingers. 'This election is not about changing governors, it's about changing direction,' Davis said at an anti-recall rally in San Francisco this past weekend. 'We want to go forward. They want to go backward.'"

the first governor in the country to be kicked out of office by a recall in more than 80 years. He has to keep other Democrats from jumping into a special election, demonize his political opponents, and convince voters frustrated with his handling of the budget crisis -- he tripled taxes on vehicles last month -- that California would slide into worse shape without him.

Then the economy soured and the state's energy crisis struck, causing blackouts. Davis was widely criticized for reacting to it slowly and indecisively. Voters, who have never shown much personal affection for him, were furious