Arianna quits 'to stop Arnie'

The Greek-born columnist and writer Arianna Huffington has withdrawn from the California gubernatorial race and urged her supporters to vote against the recall of the Democratic governor Gray Davis to prevent the actor Arnold Schwarzenegger winning for the Republicans.

A new Los Angeles Times poll confirms that the vote is likely to go against Mr Davis, with 56% favouring his recall, and Mr Schwarzenegger is the favourite to replace him, with 42% of the vote.

Cruz Bustamante, the lieutenant governor, is second favourite with 32%.

Ms Huffington has been stuck on about 3%, equalling the Green party's Peter Camejo, whose team yesterday said he would remain in the race but accepted that some of his supporters might want to vote for the "least-worst" Mr Bustamante to keep a Republican out.

Ms Huffington, a former conservative Republican who shifted left in the 90s and has established herself as an iconoclastic syndicated columnist, has not endorsed another candidate.