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**AUGUST 10, 2021**

Meyerson on TAP

Cuomo Dispensed With; Time Now to Save Newsom (i.e., California)

With all the attention that's been focused, understandably, on the
governor of the second-largest Democratic state, liberals' concern for
the future of the governor of what is by far the largest Democratic
state-Gavin Newsom's California-hasn't really taken hold yet.

It must. Not out of any concern for Newsom himself, but rather for the
state.

One reason why California's September 14 recall election has been
largely treated as back-page news is that on paper, the recall looks all
but impossible. Democrats outnumber Republicans in California by nearly
a 2-to-1 margin, and independents in the once Golden State tend to vote
Democratic, too. Democrats hold three-quarters of the seats in both
houses of the legislature (and those legislative districts are carved by
nonpartisan commissions). Moreover, the ostensible basis for the
recall-Newsom's imposition of mask mandates at various
times-really only outrages Trumpified Republicans. How, then, could a
recall possibly succeed?

The answer, as I suggested in a recent column

I wrote for the

**Prospect**and (in a different version) for the

**Los Angeles Times**, is that, to again quote Yeats (this time more
fully), "the worst are full of passionate intensity." Recalling
Newsom has become a matter of urgency for the state's Republicans, who
also know that the only times they've won statewide elections in this
century have been through low-turnout recalls. The Democrats, by
contrast, don't "lack all conviction" (that's how Yeats
characterized "the best"), but they've certainly lacked the
conviction that a recall could possibly succeed.

Recent polls seem finally to be dispelling that dangerously mistaken
conviction. Several recent polls of

**likely** voters have shown that supporters and opponents of the recall
are evenly matched. Democrats, and Newsom himself, have realized that if
Democrats don't vote at a rate that at least approaches the
Republicans', not only will he be tossed from office, but also that
the recall candidate most likely to succeed him is Larry Elder, a
far-right talk show host who personifies the GOP's Trumpian delusions.
(No prominent Democrat entered the replacement fray, and Elder is by far
the best-known Republican entrant.)

With mail ballots about to be sent out to all registered voters (this
will be an all-mail, no-polling-place election), Newsom's campaign has
realized

that the way to gin up Democratic and independent turnout is to focus on
how immeasurably at odds with Californians' values Elder truly is.
California media are also just now beginning to report and run stories
on Elder, like that in today's

**Los Angeles Times**


****that documents his decades-long disbelief in climate change (a
difficult belief to sell at a time when Northern California is burning
down), his opposition to mask (not to mention vaccine) mandates (ditto
about the bad timing), and his denial that secondhand tobacco smoke is a
health hazard. If ever a candidate could be accurately portrayed as Dr.
Doom, Elder's the one. "Elder Wins; You Die" may be a little
overstated as a campaign slogan, but as a statement of statistical
probabilities when compared to Newsom's tenure, it's completely on
the mark.

So, what should liberals do about all this in the month remaining before
the ballots must be mailed in? Newsom's campaign has more money than
it can spend in the next 35 days, but every liberal organization and
union in California should have its members walking precincts and
working phone banks to make sure that sufficient numbers of Democrats
and independents understand what will happen if Newsom is recalled.
That's what's required to ensure his retention.

______________________________________________________________________

As the delta variant rages on, a number of unions that were trying to
balance the need for vaccine mandates against the hesitancy of some of
their members have come down on the side of the mandates, so long as the
union can join management in working out the particulars. That's been
the position of AFSCME for some time, and I erred last week when I said
it was still on the fence about the mandates. My apologies to AFSCME,
the linchpin of every effort for the past 60-plus years to build a more
egalitarian and democratic nation.

~ HAROLD MEYERSON

Follow Harold Meyerson on Twitter

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Lawful Carnage

Scholar Samuel Moyn and journalist

Spencer Ackerman consider the
inherent

contradictions of the endless war on terrorism. BY ROZINA
ALI

Infrastructure Summer: The Bipartisan Bill Is Step One of Many

Democrats might get hung up on the very next step, the budget resolution
for the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package. BY DAVID DAYEN

The Child Tax Credit: A Political and Policy Triumph

As Congress begins debating budget reconciliation, the case grows for
making the credit permanent-and altering outmoded budget rules to get
that done. BY ROBERT KUTTNER

Corporate Lobbyists Seek 'Grassroots' Support for Forced Arbitration

Emails reveal a conservative tactic to promote forced arbitration in
Arizona: offer $2,000 to sign a local newspaper op-ed. BY AMELIA
POLLARD

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