US: Since the recall roller-coaster went off the rails in California with a court decision putting off polling day until next year, most of the 135 candidates for governor have continued campaigning as if nothing had changed. And they may be right.
The decision is to be reconsidered by an 11-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday, it was announced yesterday.
If reversed, the poll to recall Democratic Governor Gray Davis and select a successor could take place on October 7th as originally scheduled.
The new panel includes eight judges appointed by Democrats and three by Republicans. They will reconsider the decision of a three-judge panel - all Democratic appointees - which ruled last Monday in favour of civil rights groups who claimed that the current punch-card voting system used in six of the state's counties, including Los Angeles, was not reliable and would disenfranchise poorer voters.
News of this came as Gov Davis was campaigning in Los Angeles with former vice-president Al Gore yesterday. Mr Davis, who has most to gain from the delay, seemed almost relieved at the news.
"My attitude is, let's just get it over with, let's just have this election on October 7th, put this recall behind us so we can get on with governing the state of California," he said. The delay had infuriated Republicans who view the 9th Circuit as a liberal court. Mr Gore said that the recall effort was a Republican ploy similar to what had taken place in Florida, where he lost the 2000 presidential election due to a decision by the conservative US Supreme Court.
Republican front-runner Arnold Schwarzenegger suffered a set back yesterday when Democrat Cruz Bustamante and Republican Tom McClintock demanded that the format of a debate next Wednesday in Sacramento be changed to allow unscripted questions, or else they would not appear.
The film star had agreed only to take part only if he knew the questions in advance.