Circus, yes. Utter failure of democratic process, yes. 100% agreement.

But I think it's important to make a distinction, though. The fact that California has an accessible recall process to get rid of incompetant politicians is GOOD. The fact it's never been used before (in this kind of stupid way) is GOOD. The fact that running for governor doesn't totally exclude people for arbitrary reasons like having gobs of money is GOOD.

The problem is that certain people involved have manipulated the process for a) selfish reasons, and b) in CA you can get 100,000 voters to sign a petition without reading it at all, let alone for it being a legitimate reason, and c) everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame, particularly in CA.

It's turned into a circus, but it really didn't inherently HAVE to be one. You can have good ingredients and still end up with a lousy dinner.

I'd say Bustamonte's a respectible candidate, too. In CA, Lt Gov's are elected on their own, they aren't attached to the governor's ticket. So B- has already won voters over and everyone knows he and Davis are about as cozy as the porcupines. Too bad he's not getting much press and has protected his poitical behind by standing behind Davis -- I don't think he has a prayer of winning despite being one of the (if not THE) most qualified folks in the race.