Cruz missile

National | CALIFORNIA: Recall politics may thwart an initiative that would end state classifications of citizens by race | Lynn Vincent

A LANDMARK VOTER INITIATIVE hustled prematurely onto California's recall ballot may wind up a victim of the recall itself—crushed in a rerouted landslide of gubernatorial campaign cash.

Proposition 54, the "Racial Privacy Initiative" (RPI), would bar Golden State agencies from classifying people by race or ethnicity. Its chief architect, University of California regent and antiÐaffirmative action activist Ward Connerly, crafted the measure to end government's preferential treatment based on race: "RPI's passage will signal America's first step towards a color-blind society."

California voters were not to decide on Prop. 54 until March 2004, during the Democratic presidential primaries. But state election law mandates that qualified initiatives appear on the next statewide ballot. And recall politics have changed everything. The recall wave that swept Gov. Gray Davis into a battle for his job also swept Prop. 54 onto the special ballot, leaving Mr. Connerly short on time to raise both voter awareness and cash.