Lodi's Guzzardi moved by support from voters

Updated: Wednesday, October 8, 2003 8:46 AM PDT

Lodi's first gubernatorial candidate spent Tuesday putting his campaign message out one last time -- and waiting, like most Californians, to find out who the next governor would be.

"I got pretty good press coverage throughout, and was on several radio shows," Joe Guzzardi said in a cell phone reflection on his strive in the state's historic race. "As they days wound down closer to the election, the focus shifted toward the bigger candidates. I was content with that."

On the San Joaquin County ballot, Guzzardi's name appeared in the second column, up one-third of the way from the bottom, just below comedian Leo Gallagher's. It was nestled among 134 other governor hopefuls.

With 99 percent of the precincts reporting at 8:30 a.m. today, Guzzardi had received 1,201 votes statewide and finished 56th out of 135 candidates.

In San Joaquin County, he received 182 votes, good for eighth place behind Arnold Schwarzenegger, Cruz Bustamante, Tom McClintock, Peter Camejo, Arianna Huffington, Peter Ueberroth and Jerome Kunzman. (Huffington and Ueberroth pulled out of the race prior to Tuesday's election.)

"I'm delighted," he said from Southern California on Tuesday night. "I expect I'll get 1,000 votes statewide."

Guzzardi thought it would take longer to decide a winner.

"That makes a short night for all of us," he said when CNN, NBC and the Associated Press declared Schwarzenegger California's next governor within a minute after the polls closed at 8 p.m.

He feels the nail that sealed Gov. Gray Davis' coffin was when he signed legislation allowing undocumented immigrants to get a driver's license. Guzzardi referred to the move as "pandering for votes."

Having spent less than $11,000, including the $3,500 filing fee, to run, it was a campaign race Guzzardi feels was well worth his energy.

In the days before the election, he traveled in Southern California along the same election path that Schwarzenegger had trekked out on "as a candidate, and an observer of the scene," he said.

A number of the lesser-known governor contenders formed a coalition, traversing the state in a shared bus and exchanging e-mails on the recall.

"There was a lot of camaraderie," Guzzardi said. "I was pleased what I was able to do with a one-man crew and virtually no money."

The candidate received free coverage in the Washington Times and on California cable channels. He was also in the audience of the "Jay Leno Show" and appeared as the Eight of Clubs in a deck of special recall election playing cards (www.californiatotalrecall.com).

He was also impressed with information on each candidate placed in larger metropolitan daily newspapers.

"Although most of the attention went to Davis and Schwarzenegger, if people were interested in hearing what the other candidates had to say, there were ways to find out," Guzzardi said.

During the campaign, he said he was honored to be asked to speak to the Concilio organization in Stockton.

A News-Sentinel columnist for a number of years, the Democrat said that until recently he never gave running for political office a thought. But when the recall efforts became evident, Guzzardi said it was an opportunity he couldn't pass up.

"I expected a once-in-a-lifetime experience," he said. "It was fun."

While campaigning, he said many of his supporters said they'd vote for him if they thought the Lodi man had a chance.

So, will he run again?

"At this time, I have no plans to run again for elected office," he laughed. "It was a lot of hard work. It was 16 hours a day, everyday."

Guzzardi took a leave of absence from Lodi Adult School where he is an instructor, but will be back to work Monday.

He was one of two candidates from San Joaquin County vying for the state's top spot.

Kevin Richter, of Manteca, also ran in the recall election. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening after the results.

However, by 11:30 p.m., he had received only eight votes in San Joaquin County, with 59 percent of the precincts reporting. Statewide, he got 136 votes with 53 percent of the precincts reporting.

Candidate Tom Benigno, formerly of Escalon, recently moved to Alameda County.

Joe Guzzardi's column will start running again in the News-Sentinel on Oct. 18. It was placed on hiatus during the election.