At least one issue was clarified in the state Capitol on Wednesday: Californians will get a chance this fall to recall Gov. Gray Davis.

Secretary of State Kevin Shelley announced that 1.3 million signatures had been certified, clearing the way for the first gubernatorial recall election in California history.

Beyond that, ambiguity reigned. Among the questions: What would be the date? How would the election be structured? Who would run?

Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante promised that once the signatures were certified, he would move quickly to set an election date within the next 60 to 80 days. In a telephone interview Wednesday, Bustamante hinted that the special election would be in the latter weeks of that window, to give registrars time to prepare.

"My concern is for the system," Bustamante said. "The bureaucracy needs time to gear up. You need time for the printing of ballots and documents and the selection of precincts."

Bustamante emphatically denied speculation that he might be plotting a legal strategy to limit the election to an up-or-down vote on Davis -- and thus set himself up as successor if voters toss out the incumbent. He said a decision on how to structure the ballot question would be left to the secretary of state, attorney general and legislative counsel.

Under the expected scenario, voters would face two questions in the special election:

-- whether to recall Davis; and,

-- a choice among a list of possible successors. It will take just 65 signatures and a $3,500 filing fee to qualify for the ballot.

"Uncharted waters," Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, said of the process, adding that the last thing he needed was a diversion from an unresolved budget with a $38 billion shortfall.

Waiting in the wings are the candidates, who have expressed varying levels of interest in succeeding Davis: actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, ex-L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan, gubernatorial wannabe Bill Simon, Sen. Tom McClintock, columnist Arianna Huffington, Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, Green Party activist Peter Camejo and the congressman whose bankroll propelled the petition drive, Darrell Issa.

Another wild card in the recall will be the so-called Racial Privacy Initiative, promoted by UC Regent Ward Connerly, which is set to go on the next statewide election. The initiative would prohibit state and local governments from collecting racial data. Its presence on the ballot could elevate the turnout, with passions running high on both sides of the issue. But which side would prove more motivated? The answer to that question could determine whether Gray Davis stays in office.

We continue to believe the recall election is a bad idea, especially in the absence of evidence of malfeasance by the governor and with the state mired in a fiscal crisis that threatens to plunge its government into bankruptcy. Recall proponents will now have a chance to make their case. Political opportunists are sure to jump into the fray.

Historians will decide whether we have entered a period of madness or catharsis. California politics has rarely been more interesting, or more precarious.