Every man for himself!
Arnold Schwarzenegger's entry into the California recall election has overshadowed the DemocRats who are leaving Gray Davis' sinking ship:

Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi broke with party unity to announce they would run.

The pressure even started mounting on Davis in Washington, with party sources saying House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California had reversed herself and concluded the party needs a replacement candidate.
...
Bustamante, a former state Assembly speaker and the first Hispanic elected to statewide office in more than 100 years, was the first prominent Democrat to enter the fray despite weeks of saying he would stay out.

He decided to enter as a backup candidate after polls showed Davis vulnerable, but said he would campaign against the recall.
...
"I'm here to tell everyone to vote no on the recall and yes on Bustamante," he said. "We are going to fight like heck against the recall."

Sure you are, Cruz. Wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more.

And Grayout Davis still doesn't get it:

He said he wished that fellow party members had followed his plan to stay off the ballot, but said more Democrats could lure more voters to the polls.

"Every Democrat says they are against the recall, and I take them at their word," he said

Dream on!

In case recollections of the exploits of Cruz Bustamante don't exactly float to the the top of the bowl, here's a picture and some highlights:

Davis, who preceded Bustamante as lieutenant governor, and Bustamante have had their scrapes. Early in Davis' first term, Bustamante criticized a Davis policy on immigrants, and Davis responded by eliminating some of Bustamante's staff parking spaces in the Capitol.

Woohoo! Hot steaming bureaucratic infighting!

Thursday morning, Bustamante criticized a car tax increase approved by Davis and the Legislature, saying it hurts working families.

"When I was a child of six in the little tiny town and my father was a barber, a hundred or two hundred bucks meant school clothes," said Bustamante, who grew up in Dinuba, about 30 miles southeast of Fresno.

Someone get a stopwatch - he's breaking all records getting away from Davis' vicinity!

The lieutenant governor caused a stir two years ago when he used a racial slur against blacks in a speech to the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. But the remark was largely forgiven after he apologized for it as an out-of-character slip.

He's of the party whose racial slurs are always forgiven.

As lieutenant governor, Bustamante chairs the state Senate and sits on several boards, including the University of California regents, the California State University board trustees and the State Lands Commission, which manages 4.5 million acres of public lands and waterways.

Zzzzzz.