[goldstategop]

The same kind of carping negative press didn't stop a fellow named Ronald Reagan from routing an incumbent Governor named Edmund G Brown.

[nickcarraway]

ping

[Coop]

I just wanted to repeat this portion loud and clear:

Nowhere in James Sterngold's story will readers learn that this "dark horse" leads in several recent polls. Why is that rather important fact left out?

For all the naysayers out there not giving Simon a chance. He most definitely has a chance to win this thing, so the sooner everyone gets on board and supports him...

[Gophack]

Once again, George Neumayr hits the nail on the head with his right on media analysis.

Simon has been out and about plenty and I have received many emails intelligently critical of Davis and his shenanigans. The media chooses to not report on Simon.

This will be the grassroots campaign to end all grassroots campaigns when Simon beats Davis.

Freepers Unite! Dump Davis! Elect Simon!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for posting another good article from George!

calgov2002:

calgov2002: for old calgov2002 articles. 

calgov2002: for new calgov2002 articles. 

Other Bump Lists at: Free Republic Bump List Register

[ElkGroveDan]

CALIFORNIA-WIDE PING

[Grampa Dave]

When do the STD mentally demented writers and editors at the NY Slimes lie to push their agenda and politicians?

[lasereye]

I still think Davis will win, and perhaps comfortably. Maybe Simon can win if turnout is real low.

[d14truth]

How Easy Is It To Slant a News Report?

Parsing the 'left' and getting it right.

[d14truth]

How's that for hardheaded, just-the-facts reporting? It "appears" to Sterngold that Simon's campaign is petering out? "Appears" is a weasel word that simply means, "I don't have the facts." Wouldn't it be a little more honest to say that it "appears to this liberal reporter" that the Simon campaign has lost momentum?"

Somebody else is clarifying for those not motivated to 'parse' between the lines.

[LS]

I would love to believe Simon is ahead, but I note that the author does not himself tell us what those polls are. What polls have Simon ahead?

[Lancey Howard]

Excellent expose.
This story nails with pinpoint accuracy why the formerly respected New York Times is now considered just a high-brow tabloid. The writers can phoney things up with multi-syllable keywords and low-key headlines for only so long - - the public (with the possible exception of Upper East Side snobs) has caught on. The con job doesn't work anymore. There is no longer any integrity or journalistic compass at the New York Times.
The paper has maybe a few decent years left. Then, it is good riddance.

[Hugin]

"Simon has gotten no traction from his upset in the primary," she said. "Simon's really been under the radar screen since the primary, and he hasn't defined himself."

It's not even Memorial Day yet, what do you expect? Nobody is focusing on the campaign right now, and nobody is running ads. That will start up after Labor Day three months from now. In the meantime the newspapers are full of the Davis scandal-de-jour, so why should Simon try to change the focus to himself? That would be exactly what Davis wants.

[d14truth]

"Sterngold can't complete his story without a quote from the ubiquitous Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, the Norman Ornstein of the West Coast. Jeffe is a liberal political scientist at the University of Southern California who seems to spend much of her day returning phone calls to the dominant media. She is always ready to tell the reporters what they want to hear. "Simon has gotten no traction from his upset in the primary," she said. "Simon's really been under the radar screen since the primary, and he hasn't defined himself.""

Is Jeffe the 'protege' of that other USC professor that during the Clinton years acted as a 'mouthpiece for the left', Susan Estrich?

[dpwiener]

Clearly any media stick will do to cripple this "dark horse."

Except it's not just the liberal media. A few days ago I caught some comments by John & Ken on their afternoon radio talk show (KFI in Los Angeles). From the snippet I heard, I gathered that they'd interviewed Bill Simon the previous day.

I have to explain at this point that John & Ken hate Gray Davis with an intensity and passion that is unsurpassed by anything (with the possible exception of their distaste for Gary Condit). They desperately want Davis to lose in November, and they'd line up behind anybody who has any chance of defeating him.

They were railing against Bill Simon, because he had apparently given them the standard interview responses filled with all the standard cliches and evasions that politicians are prone to use to avoid being pinned down on issues. John & Ken were terrified that Simon was going to be buried by Davis unless Simon got his act together and and found some competent people to manage his campaign.

The above is only anecdotal evidence, but I get a similar impression from other sources. Gray Davis is facing what would normally be considered a "perfect storm" -- a combination of his insane energy policies, his openly-extortionary fundraising mania, his corrupt cronies, highly-hostile "allies" among Democratic legislators and liberal special-interest groups, a dislikable personality subject to raging temper tantrums, and a state budget that has plunged from a huge surplus to a vastly-larger deficit during his first term. If ever an incumbent Democratic Governor in solidly-Democratic California was beatable, Davis is that person.

But unless he changes what he's doing, Simon might very well blow this golden opportunity.