Two of the three top candidates seeking to replace Gov. Gray Davis in the recall election took their cases to moneyed Indian tribes Thursday, promising to support more gambling and less government intrusion on tribal lands in California.

Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock drew standing ovations after their remarks to the California Nations Indian Gaming Association, according to members who attended the closed-door session at the downtown Hyatt Regency Sacramento.

Speaking with reporters after their speeches, Bustamante and McClintock described their commitments in broad terms. They denied promising tribes anything specific in exchange for campaign contributions.

But they left little doubt among tribal leaders that they would expedite compacts for tribes that don't yet have gaming rights and be amenable to increasing the number of slot machines allowed to tribes that already run casinos.

"In terms of Hewlett-Packard or any other industry group in California, we don't put a limitation on any of them," Bustamante said. "We don't say, 'You can only sell so many computers' or 'You can only have so many franchises.' What we do is let the market determine a lot of what is needed."

In written responses to a Gannett News Service questionnaire on gambling made available by the tribal association, Bustamante also said cities and counties should have no ability to influence land-use and zoning decisions on tribal land.

"They are not subject to local ordinances any more than tribal governments can make decisions about city or county matters off their reservation that impact them," he wrote.

Bustamante also took Davis to task for "trying to arbitrarily take money from the tribes" by balancing the state budget, in part, on increased state fees from tribes in the hopes that deals could later be negotiated. "The tribes need their money to meet their governmental needs," he wrote.

Emerging from the meeting, McClintock gave broad support to the tribes.

"Sovereignty means the state's jurisdiction ends at the boundary line of the reservation," he said. "That's all that our society left them with when the reservations were established in the 19th century. They've now finally been able to make their freedom produce prosperity, and I think that the people of California should respect that."

The association will not endorse or contribute money to any candidate in the Oct. 7 election, but individually, its 57 members are beginning to make such decisions, as are 50 nonmember tribes that sent representatives to Thursday's meeting.

Collectively, they have the resources to donate millions of dollars to candidates on short notice. That could make them invaluable to Bustamante and McClintock in a contest complicated by new campaign finance laws and an abbreviated, two-month timetable.

Polls place Bustamante and McClintock among the top three in a volatile field of 133 candidates trying to replace Davis should voters oust him in a mid-term election. But their campaign finances lag far behind the other top-tier candidate, Republican movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger, who this week ruled out taking money from Indian tribes, calling them "big, powerful special interests."

"We're looking for candidates who treat us as governments -- we're not big, powerful special interests," said Anthony Miranda, secretary of the tribal association and a member of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians.

Davis also spoke to the association, urging its members to oppose his recall, but participants said he drew only lukewarm applause.

He reminded them that his administration had penned the historic compacts, which a majority of Californians ratified in 2000 to allow Nevada-style casinos on Indian land.

"I've been the best governor in California history for Indian tribes," Davis said, according to a partial transcript of his remarks provided to reporters by a spokesman for the tribal association.

Schwarzenegger declined an invitation to attend Thursday's meeting. He has said he would not accept tribal contributions because he doesn't think it is right to take money from groups with which you could later negotiate deals.

Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Karen Hanretty said the candidate is not out to limit gambling.

"Indians have implied sovereignty in the U.S. Constitution, and they've been granted the right to conduct gambling on reservations," Hanretty said. "That has been supported by the voters, and as governor he will support Indian gaming on Native American reservations."

New campaign laws limit donors to giving no more than $21,200 per replacement candidate in the recall campaign.

Through a loophole in election law, however, Bustamante can raise larger amounts by funneling them through his 2002 campaign account. Last week, the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation used that loophole to donate $300,000. Bustamante has said the campaign could cost him $15 million.

Also, donors can give unlimited amounts through so-called independent expenditure committees.