Apparently, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee doesn't understand how recall elections work in California.

DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe made that clear last week when he pledged that no Democrat will offer herself (or, yes, himself) up as an alternative to Davis on the recall ballot.

"So if you're a California voter and you want to vote to recall Gray Davis, you are not going to have an option but a bunch of right-wing conservatives on the ballot," McAuliffe said.
McAuliffe and others who favor keeping Democrats off the ballot have got hold of the wrong end of this argument. It is not just voters who want to recall Davis who need an alternative. All voters do. To see why, consider the following scenario.

Let's say you're a voter (no matter what your party affiliation) who is opposed to the recall for whatever reason. Let's say, too, that on Election Day the polls show that the recall has a good chance of passing. So you go into the voting booth and vote against the recall with the knowledge that Davis may well be out as governor when the votes are counted.

Given that, you will probably want to cast a vote for a successor -- a second-choice vote, just in case Davis is thrown out of office. And you'll be able to do that, because simply voting on the recall -- no matter which way you vote -- gives you the right to vote for a successor.

So you look at the ballot. Davis' name isn't on it. (The way recall law works, it can't be; lots of people don't understand that.) And no other Democrats are on it either. So you look down the list and see a bunch of Republicans and minor-party candidates.

And there you stand, trying to find some political nourishment on a menu that's heavy on fruitcake, nutcake and beefcake.

At that moment, you are apt to feel disappointed, if not downright disenfranchised. At that moment, you are likely to find yourself choosing a candidate you don't care for or don't know much about. And at that moment, you are not likely to feel very friendly toward the Democrats who have left you in that situation.

Democrats who understand the recall and have thought about it in any depth know this. They know that by putting all the party's eggs in Davis' basket they deprive their own voters of a choice. They know that by doing so they risk alienating their own voters. They know that by doing so they may be helping to hand the governor's office to someone who could never win it on his own.

Which makes you wonder. If they know all this, why are they so hell-bent on pursing such a strategy?

California Republicans have a reputation as susceptible to political suicide. Maybe it's contagious.