Recall as a revolt of the other California

Philip Dobbs is befuddled. Sitting beside Market Street in the cool shadows cast by the San Francisco skyline, he picks at his lunch distractedly, not comprehending the political upheaval that has gripped his state. "No one here wanted to recall Gray Davis," says the goateed paralegal. "It's a big waste of money."

Donita Morris, however, has no such confusion. Taking refuge from the Central Valley's 103-degree F. heat in the skylit vault of the Roseville Galleria mall, she openly laughs when Governor Davis's name is mentioned. "It's just one mess after another, and it needs to change," she says.

Between these two cities - and these two voters - is a divide that separates two very different Californias. Long bullied by Los Angeles and the Bay Area - the state's two biggest and most Democratic population centers - the often-overlooked corners of California are staging a revolt that has echoed across the nation.

It comes from rural Main Streets where storefront displays selling "Guns and Ammo" don't get a second look. It comes from suburban kingdoms where the horizon is sketched by the geometric tilt of red-tile roofs. It comes from the 40 counties - of 58 - that did not choose Davis in last year's election.

The outrage is obvious in the streets and shops of Roseville, where many residents pour forth their frustrations as if they had been uncorked. Yet it is no less apparent amid the tall towers of San Francisco, where hip 20-somethings and aging hippies say the democratic process has been hijacked by sore losers. Whichever California is more motivated, experts say, will decide this October's recall vote.

"In elections, it's between [Los Angeles and the Bay Area] and the rest of California," says Mark DiCamillo of the Field Poll in San Francisco. "Look at any close vote and it comes down to that dynamic."

His own survey this month hints at the split. While Los Angeles was almost evenly divided on the question of removing Davis, the rest of southern California wanted to oust Davis by a margin of 57 percent to 36 percent. Likewise, while 57 percent of the Bay Area respondents opposed the recall, 56 percent of the rest of northern California supported it. Support ran even higher in the Central Valley.

Indeed, an analysis of the recall signatures shows that San Francisco was the only county in which less than 1 percent of registered voters gave a valid signature. By contrast, the Central Valley's Placer County, which includes Roseville, was the only county to top 20 percent, according to registration data from earlier this year.

Some of that, organizers say, is a reflection of where signature gatherers were most active and organized. But there's an underlying reality, too. While saying he will not concede any other county, recall leader Ted Costa acknowledges, "We're going to lose San Francisco."

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