Ueberroth pulls out of recall election

Lolita Harper and Mike Swanson

Emerald Bay resident Peter Ueberroth announced Tuesday he was

dropping out of the gubernatorial recall election because he lacked

time to run a substantive campaign.

He also promised to give more than $1 million of his own money

back to every campaign contributor.

Ueberroth told a room full of journalists, cameras and supporters

that the small amount of time remaining before the special election

was not enough for him to run a positive, detail-oriented campaign.

“With three plus, or four weeks left, it was just not going to

happen,” Ueberroth said at an afternoon press conference at his

campaign headquarters in Costa Mesa.

Resident Andy Alison was upset, but not surprised, to hear the

news.

“Ueberroth’s backing out further illustrates the point that

Californians are more likely to vote for celebrities and politicians

rather than a proven financial leader,” Alison said.

Dan Schnur, manager of the Ueberroth campaign, said his team met a

few days prior to discuss campaign strategies, at which point it

became clear their tactics would need to change. Without getting into

specifics, Schnur said the new approach would require Ueberroth to

run a campaign he was just “not comfortable with,” including but not

limited to attacking other candidates.

“There was no way to get to the goal line without violating the

principles that brought him into this election in the first place,”

Schnur said.

Known as a strong competitor who knows how to win, Ueberroth said

it did not make sense to continue a race he was likely to lose.

“I am pragmatic,” Ueberroth said.

Given 10 or 11 months, or even another nine weeks, the Ueberroth

team felt it could get his message out and win over the majority of

the voters.

A majority of Laguna Beach voters haven’t turned out publicly to

support Ueberroth, but Ueberroth didn’t make any public appearances

in Laguna Beach during the race.

“This town is very fickle when it comes to politics,” Alison said.

Polls showed a high percentage of voters did not have enough

information to make an informed decision. Once people hear his ties

to the 1984 Olympics and learn of his credentials, they are quick to

give him their support, Schnur said.

“Peter made the decision to run on the date of the filing

deadline,” Schnur said. “Had he made it 60 days earlier, then maybe

... “

Ueberroth, a registered Republican, was running as an independent

candidate with a bipartisan campaign team.

After the first televised debate last week, his numbers fell

considerably behind front runners Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lt. Gov.

Cruz Bustamante, both of whom have TV ads running. None of

Ueberroth’s TV advertisements had run yet.

Schwarzenegger’s movie star status brought name recognition and

media attention that also affected Ueberroth’s ability to run a

detail-oriented campaign in such a short amount of time, officials

said.

Ueberroth instead vowed to meet face-to-face with the remaining

front-running candidates -- including Bustamante -- to decide who

will get his support.

He said he would work with that person to create more jobs and get

the state out of its economic crisis.

Schnur predicted Ueberroth’s endorsement would make a heavy mark

in the ultimate outcome. The former candidate knows the Terminator

and contributed money to candidate Tom McClintock’s previous

statewide campaign last year. He is not considered “friends” with

either, his former manager said.

“I am not going to willy-nilly make a decision because the media

wants me to -- or anyone else,” Ueberroth said. “ ... I can’t go with

something that was said on a TV ad. I have to be eyeball to eyeball.

That is the way I am and it’s not going to change now.”