SACRAMENTO - The increasing likelihood that Gov. Gray Davis will be recalled pleases state Senate Minority Leader Jim Brulte, but California's top Republican worries the top four Republicans running to replace him will split the vote and allow Democrats to retain control of the office.

The Rancho Cucamonga Republican announced his support for the recall on Thursday but declined to endorse a replacement candidate.

But if the polls showing Arnold Schwarzenegger well ahead of his GOP challengers don't change much, the other Republicans in the race can eventually expect a phone call from Brulte asking them to drop their campaigns for the good of the party.

"This is a case where four credible Republicans splitting the vote could turn the governor's office over to Gray Davis' lieutenant governor, who from a personal standpoint may be a little bit more warm and fuzzy, but from a policy standpoint is as liberal or more liberal than the current governor,' Brulte said.

Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante is the lone established Democrat running to replace Davis if he is recalled on Oct. 7.

Brulte said he is "seriously concerned' that Bustamante will have the advantage as long as Republicans tussle among themselves in a state where registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans 46 percent to 37 percent.

According to recent polls, actor-turned-politician Schwarzenegger leads three other Republicans handily among likely voters. The Field Poll had him ahead of state Sen. Tom McClintock of Thousand Oaks by 12 percentage points and in front of 2002 gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon by 13 percentage points.

Former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth, who is running a nonpartisan campaign, trailed Schwarzenegger by 17 percentage points.

Though a Public Policy Institute of California survey showed Schwarzenegger leading Bustamante 25 percent to 18 percent with McClintock at 5 percent and Simon and Ueberroth at 4 percent, the actor trailed Bustamante in the Field Poll 25 percent to 22 percent.

"This is not a Republican primary where whichever Republican finishes first gets to go to a general election,' Brulte said. "Thirty-seven

percent divided by four doesn't get you anywhere near 46 percent.'

Aside from his leadership position in the Legislature, Brulte has a long-standing personal relationship with President Bush and was instrumental in recent years in reforming the California Republican Party.

Republicans lost all statewide offices in November 2002, but Brulte and Assembly Minority Leader Dave Cox of Fair Oaks were widely credited with the GOP's pickup of three legislative seats in the same election.

This year, Brulte parlayed California's two-thirds vote requirement by state legislators for tax increases into a 2003-04 state budget that did not include tax hikes. His strategy's key component was his threat to campaign against any Republican legislator who voted with Democrats to raise taxes.

"The question is: Should we wait for three years to change the leadership of the executive branch, or should voters avail themselves of the opportunity we have in October?' Brulte said Thursday. "I think clearly the answer to that is October.'

The Davis administration was not surprised to learn of Brulte's position. Davis spokeswoman Hilary McLean said it would not affect the governor's ability to overcome the recall.

Brulte declined to say when he would ask the three Republican stragglers, whomever they end up being, to exit the race.

He would not be the first high- ranking GOP official to do so. Rep. David Dreier, R-Glendora, asked Simon and Ueberroth to support Schwarzenegger before being named to the former body- builder's campaign team.

Brulte said Schwarzenegger, Simon and McClintock are friends and he has no interest in criticizing them. He said each would prove more capable than Davis, as would Ueberroth, whom he does not know personally.

Brulte cautioned GOP candidates against attacking each other. Simon, for example, has criticized Schwarzenegger.

"I would prefer to have them lay out a positive vision for California,' Brulte said. "When it comes to negative campaigning, nobody can outdo Gov. Davis anyway, so why should any Republican try?'