| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
LOS ANGELES (AP) For Gov. Gray Davis, the final stop Tuesday of his two-and-a-half month campaign to keep his job was the downtown Los Angeles hotel where he celebrated his election as California's 37th governor.
Five years later, it was a far sadder scene at the Biltmore Hotel as Davis became the first California governor ever recalled from office, forever tagged as the least popular figure in modern state political history.
Where crowds had swarmed in previous years, there was a thin smattering of state government employees, campaign staff and political operatives. Even the sight of Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante on television celebrating the defeat of Proposition 54 the so-called racial privacy measure failed to move the crowd.
In the hotel's gilded Crystal Room, where the governor was expected to address the crowd later Tuesday night, reporters outnumbered Davis supporters. Jesse Jackson was one of the few prominent Democrats who had showed up early in the evening.
Outside the ballroom, a crowd gathered around the bar where a TV broadcast baseball's Cubs and Marlins in the National League playoffs.
``I've been at a lot of functions at the Biltmore where everybody is upbeat but not tonight,'' said Paul Bechley of the Laborers' Union.
Davis left the hotel at 7 p.m. to have dinner with his mother, wife and family members. He returned to his room about 9 p.m., a campaign aide said.
Even if their boss wasn't ready to concede defeat, some of his boosters were.
Art Torres, chairman of the state Democratic party, said the voters had spoken ``They chose charisma over substance, it's very clear,'' Torres said.
``Being a Democrat, we've had a lot of successful nights here,'' said Bob Mulholland, state Democratic party spokesman. ``This is not one of those nights. As the governor said, `We've had worse days in Vietnam.'''