Davis enlists Clinton; Arnold gets Buffett

California Gov. Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the leading Republican candidate to replace him in an Oct. 7 recall election, are both leaning on the masters of their fields — one in politics and one in finance — to strengthen their campaigns.

Former President Bill Clinton, who knows as well as anyone how to weather a political storm, will take a “hands-on” role in helping Mr. Davis’ campaign to defeat the recall effort and boost the Democratic governor’s approval numbers, which are wallowing near 30 percent.

The former president “is managing the whole deal by phone” and will help Mr. Davis raise funds for the unprecedented campaign, the Chicago Sun-Times first reported this week.

“We certainly welcome [Mr. Clinton] in California,” said Al Torres, chairman of the California Democratic Party. “He’s a terrific draw in Democratic country. He’s like a rock star here.”

Mr. Schwarzenegger, meanwhile, announced yesterday that billionaire investor Warren Buffett will be his campaign’s financial and economic adviser. Mr. Buffett, the second-richest man in the United States, is a staunch Democrat who has hosted several fund-raisers for both Mr. Clinton and his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

“What he will be doing is assembling other prominent business leaders and economists and setting up a team to address the issues facing California,” said Schwarzenegger spokesman Sean Walsh.

The selection of Mr. Buffett, the chairman of the Berkshire Hathaway investment firm, seems to contradict the Republican actor’s public embrace of the supply-side economic theories of Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman.

In May, Mr. Buffett dismissed Mr. Bush’s tax cuts as “voodoo economics” that amount to “major aid to the rich in their pursuit of even greater wealth” — statements inconsistent with Mr. Friedman’s free-market teachings.

Nonetheless, Mr. Buffett gave an unqualified endorsement of Mr. Schwarzenegger’s candidacy.

“I have known Arnold for years and know he’ll be a great governor,” Mr. Buffett said in a statement. “It is critical to the rest of the nation that California’s economic crisis be solved, and I think Arnold will get that job done.”

George “Duf” Sundheim, chairman of the California Republican Party, applauded the addition of Mr. Buffett to the Schwarzenegger campaign, and downplayed Mr. Buffett’s previous condemnation of tax cuts.

“It’s great to get a broad range of points of view. I think Warren Buffett has something of value to contribute,” Mr. Sundheim said.

While Mr. Davis will certainly welcome Mr. Clinton’s advice and fund-raising prowess, the ex-president’s recent track record at helping Democratic gubernatorial candidates is spotty.

In 2002, Mr. Clinton stumped for Democratic gubernatorial candidates in 17 states — nine of them lost. Democrats lost some of the closest and most high-profile races, including Maryland and Florida, where it was hoped Mr. Clinton’s presence would be the difference. Mr. Clinton also chipped in advice for last year’s Senate campaign in Minnesota by former Vice President Walter Mondale, which he lost to Republican Norm Coleman.

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