August is normally a quiet time in American domestic politics: people are on vacation, and anyone who can①flees the heat of Washington and New York. This year, however, California, the home of the US entertainment industry and some very strange politics, is providing a summer treat -- the spectacle of a state getting rid of a governor re-elected less than a year ago.

　　Governor Gray Davis is the target of a campaign to "recall" him. In California and a number of other states, voters can gather signatures on a petition to hold a special election to replace an elected official who is regarded as incompetent. (In theory, a person is "called" to office by the electorate; hence he may be "recalled" as well, i.e. summoned to step down.) When enough people sign the recall petition, the special election is scheduled.

　　Californians are angry with Gov. Davis because of his handling of the state's huge budget deficit. Davis, a Democrat, was re-elected not on the strength of his own popularity but because the Republicans put up such a weak candidate, too rightwing for most voters. His response to the deficit -- reducing public services, raising certain taxes and borrowing a lot more money, despite the state's already low credit rating and the certainty of an even bigger deficit next year -- has cost him the respect of many voters, who want the more decisive measures favored by the Republicans. But any governor would face some very nasty choices, given the terrifying size of the deficit.

　　If he is ousted, his replacement will be chosen on the same ballot. Who will run against him? For months Austrian-born film star Arnold Schwarzenegger has been rumored to have such ambitions, along with a host of other hopefuls, some of them equally unusual. This is the background to Pat Oliphant's cartoon. Trying to govern California is a very difficult task, and Gray Davis (the little "gray" monkey) is being thrown to the crocodiles by angry (Republican) apes. The next governor will be one of the other simians in the zoo -- perhaps the quiet gorilla. Muscle-bound men like Schwarzenegger are commonly described as "gorillas" in English.

　　看来，他们首先扔出了那个小灰猴，下一步，每个选民就可以从其余的猴子里选了……我想

　　我们是否对总统也可以那样做呢？

　　加州动物园