Davis, Bustamante appear together

LOS ANGELES - Arnold Schwarzenegger called on Republicans to unite behind him for governor Saturday as Democrats staged their own dramatic show of party unity.

Gov. Gray Davis and Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante appeared together for the first time since Bustamante broke his pledge and entered the race to succeed Davis if he is recalled.

The surprise joint appearance came as the state Democratic Party voted, as expected, to endorse Bustamante's "No on recall, yes on Bustamante" strategy for the Oct. 7 recall election.

"I am not in competition with Gray Davis. I'm running against Arnold and Tom," Bustamante said in his speech to delegates, referring to Schwarzenegger and the other top Republican challenger, state Sen. Tom McClintock.

Schwarzenegger, meanwhile, addressed a state Republican Party convention crowd divided over whether to back the socially moderate actor or support the more conservative McClintock, who is in line with the party faithful on issues such as abortion and guns but is widely viewed as unlikely to beat Bustamante.

Schwarzenegger sought to reassure party activists that he is one of them. He repeatedly described himself as a conservative, and said, "We as Republicans have a choice to make: Are we going to be united or are we going to be divided?

"I think if Schwarzenegger's campaign spent a fraction of the time studying the issues that they have been trying to muscle me out of the race, they'd be in much better shape today," McClintock said.

AUSTIN, Texas - Early returns showed Texas voters backed a proposition to allow limits on some lawsuit awards in an election Saturday to decide 22 constitutional amendments.

With more than 40 percent of the vote counted, 56 percent of voters cast ballots to approve the measure, which would permit caps on noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering. About 44 percent were against it.

The proposal to cap lawsuit awards became a big-money battle pitting doctors against lawyers as both sides tried to rally voters to their cause.

With only the amendments at stake Saturday, Texas Secretary of State Geoffrey Connor predicted the turnout would be only about 9 percent of about 12-million registered voters.

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