POLL: IT'S DOWN TO JUST GRAY, ARNOLD.

Byline: Grace Lee and Harrison Sheppard Staff Writers

With just eight days left before recall election day, likely voters overwhelmingly support removing Gov. Gray Davis from office, while actor Arnold Schwarzenegger has taken a wide lead in the race to succeed him, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Sunday.

The poll, with a 4 percent margin of error, was taken after Wednesday's debate - the only one in which Schwarzenegger participated - and represents a marked shift in voter sentiment in the past two weeks, with the actor surging into the lead and support for Davis' recall growing.

Davis has stepped up his call for a face-to-face debate with Schwarzenegger, while the Republican actor has barnstormed across the state, drawing enthusiastic crowds and taking an increasingly aggressive tone toward the recall election, declaring: ``This is now hand-to-hand combat. We are in the trenches. This is war.''

While dismissing a debate with Davis, Schwarzenegger's campaign staff seized on the poll as proof of public support for the recall.

``It shows what we already know - that Californians are incredibly dissatisfied with Gray Davis,'' said Schwarzenegger spokesman Rob Stutzman.

The poll said 63 percent of probable voters said they would cast ballots to recall Davis, while only 35 percent would vote against recall.

In regards to the second part of the ballot, the poll said Schwarzenegger had the support of 40 percent of those polled. Lt. Gov Cruz Bustamante was at 25 percent; Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, had 18 percent; Green Party candidate Peter Camejo 5 percent; and Arianna Huffington, 2 percent.

The Davis camp brushed off the significance of the latest numbers.

``The Gallup poll is a joke,'' said Peter Ragone, spokesman for the Californians Against the Costly Recall. ``There isn't a public poll, private poll, or poll amid friends and families in this state that is consistent with those numbers. It has no impact on us.''

Ragone said that the poll had also predicted in the days before the 2000 presidential election that Al Gore would lose by double digits.

The poll of 787 registered voters had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. It was taken Thursday through Saturday, reflecting reaction to Wednesday night's debate among the five leading contenders to replace Davis.

Support for Davis was weaker than in any major poll taken during the campaign.

The recall's opponents geared up for the last stretch of campaign Sunday with plans to run new statewide television commercials deriding Schwarzenegger for refusing to debate Davis. The commercials are scheduled to air tonight and run for at least five days.

CNN's Larry King has invited Davis and Schwarzenegger to debate on his show, an invitation accepted by Davis but declined by Schwarzenegger.

In an ad titled ``Ducks,'' an announcer asks, ``Have questions about Arnold Schwarzenegger? So do a lot of people. He ducks tough questions. Didn't vote in 13 of the last 21 elections. And now he refuses to debate the governor he's trying to replace.''

``Gray Davis is desperate,'' Stutzman said. ``He desperately needs to attack, and we're not going to fall into an obvious trap with Gray Davis where he maliciously attacks Arnold Schwarzenegger.''

Stutzman said he expected the Davis campaign to step up the negative ads against Schwarzenegger. Davis supporters, for their part, said they had no choice but to shed light on Schwarzenegger's record if he sidestepped a chance to discuss the issues in a debate.

``There's nothing vicious (in the ads); it's just the plain facts,'' said Larry Grisolano, campaign manager for Californians Against the Costly Recall.

What supporters of the two did agree upon was that the contest was now a race between the governor and Schwarzenegger.

``As Arnold Schwarzenegger becomes the standard bearer of the Republicans, the race has boiled down to a direct choice between retaining the governor or choosing Arnold Schwarzenegger,'' Grisolano said.

Many Democrats fear Bustamante's place on the ballot will present a third - and attractive - alternative to voters and split opposition to the referendum.

Grisolano said the campaign appreciated Bustamante's effort to defeat the recall, but added, ``We have to deal with reality.''

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times, San Jose Mercury News and Sacramento Bee each called for ``no'' on recall and made no candidate recommendations for the second part of the ballot.

The San Diego Union-Tribune editorialized that, while recalling the governor would set a dangerous precedent, Davis' performance demands his removal - and Schwarzenegger is the one who can turn Sacramento around.

The Oakland Tribune urged readers to vote no on the recall but also endorsed Schwarzenegger.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.