Unable to generate the attention or support that helped him nearly upset Gov. Gray Davis last November, Republican Bill Simon dropped out of the recall race Saturday in an effort to winnow the field of GOP candidates.

"There are too many Republicans in this race, and the people of this state simply cannot risk a continuation of the Gray Davis legacy," Simon said in a videotaped statement.

The move by the millionaire investor, who had been unable to move beyond single-digit support in the polls, came as Republican leaders pushed for some GOP candidates to leave the race in order to improve the chances for Republican front-runner Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Simon called Schwarzenegger to tell him of his decision, and the actor hailed Simon in a statement he released after Simon had withdrawn.

"Bill has strong convictions and a passion for ideas that will benefit California and its people," Schwarzenegger said. "He will continue to be a force for change.

"I hope Bill's personal sacrifice will serve to unify Republicans and other Californians who are eager to join the movement to give California back its future."

Rep. David Dreier, R-San Dimas, who has been urging other Republicans to drop out and support Schwarzenegger, said Simon's move "is definitely a plus."

"Even though there is no endorsement included in Bill's message, it sends a message that conservatives understand the race is going to be tough and there needs to be a rallying around one candidate," Dreier said. "I'm convinced many people who supported Bill Simon will now support Arnold Schwarzenegger."

Polls show the actor is the Republican front-runner and in a dead heat with Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, but Simon had hoped to emerge as the favorite of conservative voters who may refuse to vote for Schwarzenegger because of his moderate views on abortion, gay rights and other issues.

Simon's decision to drop out, made as he was having trouble generating enthusiasm or large crowds at his events, was hailed by rival Tom McClintock, a Simi Valley Republican state senator who says he is the true conservative alternative in the race.

"From our standpoint, it couldn't come at a better time," McClintock adviser John Stoos said. "We are up statewide with our signs, our radio starts Monday and our TV a little later."

Political analysts have said in recent days they believed there would be a concerted effort by party leaders to persuade Simon, McClintock and former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth to drop out and leave the race to Schwarzenegger.

Simon also called Ueberroth Saturday morning to inform him of the decision to leave the race, and Ueberroth's campaign signaled that its candidate was not considering bowing out.

Instead, Ueberroth plans to start radio advertising this week, after raising more than $1.2 million last week. Ueberroth donated an additional $1 million of his own money to his race, as well.

Independent political commentator Arianna Huffington said she, too, would begin advertising, airing television spots in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, San Jose and "other cities where the preponderance of nonvoters reside."

The decision Friday by the conservative and influential Lincoln Club of Orange County to endorse Schwarzenegger and urge others to drop out may have signaled the end was near for Simon.

A spokesman for Davis' anti-recall organization said Simon's departure would have no impact on the governor's efforts to convince voters he deserves to stay in office and to ignore the 135 candidates who qualified to be on the ballot seeking to replace him.

"Basically, it's irrelevant," Gabriel Sanchez said. "We are focused on the first part of the ballot question, and the second part of the ballot has become somewhat of a circus sideshow. Now, it just has one less clown."

Davis, in Newport Beach to address executives with the League of United Latin American Citizens, also minimized Simon's decision.

"It's of little significance to me," Davis told reporters. "I'm not on that part of the ballot."

Although the governor's team says it does not intend to campaign against other candidates, Davis said Schwarzenegger "needs to be more specific on a whole bunch of stuff" and added, "I don't think anyone should shrink from opposing Proposition 54," the ballot measure that would largely ban state government from classifying people by race, ethnicity, color or national origin.

Davis was more interested in talking about a new Los Angeles Times poll that showed voter support for the recall at 50 percent -- better for him than in two other recent polls -- and opposition to the recall at 45 percent, with 5 percent of voters undecided.

"We're only trailing by five points," Davis said. "I'm heartened by that. Clearly, people are beginning to see this is a serious matter. They don't want recalls."

Democrats immediately suggested that Simon's withdrawal was part of an agreement brokered with the White House to boost Republican chances at winning the governor's office in California.

"I think Simon got a deal he couldn't resist," Democratic Party spokesman Bob Mulholland said.

Mulholland said party Chairman Art Torres suspected Simon had been offered support for a future run at the U.S. Senate if he dropped out.

But spokesmen for the main Republican candidates said they knew of no phone calls or pressure on any of them to withdraw, and McClintock's and Ueberroth's campaigns have said their candidates are in the race to stay.

"We have not had a single call from anybody suggesting we get out," McClintock adviser Stoos said, adding that Simon's withdrawal was not a surprise because private polls had shown his support dropping steadily.

"This is just practical on Simon's part," Stoos said. "Basically, now you have an experienced candidate who has been fighting the fiscal crisis in Sacramento for 20 years, a celebrity who may or may not raise taxes, and the other half of the Davis-Bustamante administration. We think we're going to do pretty good in that mix."

McClintock has been endorsed by the conservative California Republican Assembly and can be expected to continue to position himself as the true Republican in the race.

Ueberroth, who also is a Republican, has said he will run a campaign focused on his experience as a problem solver rather than on partisanship.

Scheduled to meet with reporters in Sacramento on Monday, Ueberroth has said he will not drop out and that he would serve as governor only until the end of Davis' term in January 2007.

Like Simon, Ueberroth has remained in single-digit figures in the polls, but has begun traveling the state hoping to raise his profile and his support.

Both McClintock and Ueberroth also may be banking on Schwarzenegger faltering because of some unforeseen slip or scandal, leaving one of them as the Republican alternative to Bustamante if voters choose to oust Davis on the first part of the ballot Oct. 7.

Some observers had predicted in recent days that Simon might drop out of the race as his campaign failed to catch on with voters.

Last year Simon, son of former Treasury Secretary William E. Simon, emerged from a 5 percent standing in the polls to knock off heavily favored former Los Angeles Mayor Dick Riordan for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.

Simon, who had never sought political office before, ran as a conservative and came close to defeating Davis in November despite a campaign that was disorganized and frequently stumbled.

Simon had been critical of Schwarzenegger in recent days, asking where the candidate stood on specific issues and challenging him to come up with details on how he'd fix California's problems.

But in the end, Simon began to realize he was unable to get his message out and couldn't raise money to help the cause. Having spent $10 million of his own money on his first campaign, he was reluctant to reach deeply into his pocket once again.

"Just two days before Simon announced his candidacy, he talked about his own ambivalence toward making another run for the state's top job.

"I woke up at three in the morning and I was just thinking about was this really the right thing to do," he said while sipping coffee at a Starbucks near St. Monica's Church in Santa Monica. "I turned to my wife and said, 'How much good we could do for people who really needed help if we took whatever money we would spend in this campaign and just gave it directly to some cause?'

"Let's say it was $6 million. We could rebuild a church like St. Monica's, like we helped do after the (Northridge) earthquake. We could just give it to the homeless. ... I've been asking myself these questions, but I think we're too far down the pike to back out."

But Simon -- whose name will remain on the ballot -- decided late Friday that the effort was futile, becoming the second major Republican to drop out of the recall race. U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, who pumped millions of his own money into the effort to gather enough signatures to force a recall vote against Davis, withdrew one day after Schwarzenegger announced he was running.