Will we see Dick run?

For those of us who don't care strongly either way -- and who remember voting on all this less than a year ago -- the recall better at least be entertaining. With Michael Finnegan's report in the L.A. Times this morning that Dick Riordan is edging closer to a run, things are looking up from that perspective. There would be some delicious irony if Gray Davis has to run against Riordan after all, since he spent all those millions to block off that possibility in the Republican primary last year. Freed from the yoke of partisanship, the ex-mayor might put on a better campaign. Finnegan reports there were meetings all day yesterday at the Riordan home trying to put together a team. Of course, if he loses again, Riordan could be so ticked off that he threatens to start two newspapers.

Meanwhile, Dan Weintraub thinks that Arnold is stalling to be sure Riordan will run, hoping for a Republican moderate with a chance to win on the ballot. Mickey Kaus suspects otherwise -- that Schwarzenegger is just waiting to be asked so effusively by desperate Republicans that he can't refuse. In the Times, Michael Cieply and Claudia Eller report that to win over Arnold, you have to win over Maria.