At Fresno Rally, Bustamante Switches Spotlight to Himself | L A Times

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September 8, 2003

THE RECALL CAMPAIGN
At Fresno Rally, Bustamante Switches Spotlight to Himself
-The lieutenant governor seems to back away from his push for a no vote on the recall and instead promotes his strengths for mostly Latino group.

By Matea Gold and Joe Mathews, Times Staff Writers


FRESNO — In a significant shift of campaign strategy, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante on Sunday moved away from urging a "no" vote in the Oct. 7 recall election, abandoning Gov. Gray Davis to fight alone and focusing instead on the merits of his own candidacy.

During a jubilant rally before some 2,000 supporters at the Fresno Convention Center, Bustamante spent nearly 40 minutes outlining why he should be elected to succeed Davis, painting himself as a staunch defender of workers and immigrants who will help expand the middle class.

"I am just like you," Bustamante told a sea of supporters, mostly Latinos, who waved Bustamante signs as a crew filmed the event for a series of television commercials.

In previous speeches, Bustamante had criticized the recall and urged supporters to vote against it. On Sunday, he made no such argument. Bustamante said after his speech that he had repeated his "no on the recall" line once, at the end of the speech, but cheers drowned out the words.

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