Posted on 06/21/2002 5:15:04 AM PDT by Impeach98
"As Simon made the rounds Wednesday in Washington, a behind-the-scenes shakeup was quietly taking place back at his campaign headquarters in Sacramento. As with the Washington tour, that move was orchestrated by the White House."
"Ron Rogers, the strategist in charge of the campaign's day-to-day operations, was ousted in favor of John Peschong, a veteran California Republican Party operative and close ally of Gerald Parsky, the Westside businessman who acts as Bush's chief political emissary in the state."
"White House political operatives, including chief strategist Karl Rove, have been privately critical of the Simon campaign, echoing widespread concerns in GOP circles--shared, most critically, by some of the party's biggest financial supporters."
"They complain that Simon has moved too slowly to build support beyond his conservative base and is too passive in exploiting Davis' perceived weaknesses. They also criticized Simon for failing to respond immediately when Davis launched a multimillion-dollar ad blitz two weeks ago."
"Bush, who helped Simon raise millions of dollars at a pair of events in April, has agreed to return to California in August to help raise more money."
Nixon's rule is a solid one here in California for non-incumbents: run to the right to get nominated, run to the center to get elected. It's how Reagan got his first term.
Incorrect. Let me illustrate:
In New York State, for at least 6 years, Mario Cuomo tried to pass a restrictive 'Assault Weapons' ban. Every year the Democrat Assembly would rubberstamp it and the Republican Senate would shoot it down.
Then George Pataki (R) was elected governor. He proposed the exact same restrictive 'Assault Weapons' ban. The Democrat Assembly, as usual, rubberstamped it.
But *THIS* time, the Republican Senate did not shoot it down. Pataki had INFLUENCE with them, he could shut off Republican State-level project money and Republican party cash. So the Republican Senate passed the bill.
A RINO is much more dangerous than a Democrat, because a RINO can overcome the party resistance and get liberal legislation passed that no Democrat could.
Also, in the LA Times story yesterday, Bush and Simon are attacking Davis for allowing some oil drilling in California. At a time when we need to be weening ourselves off of the arabs, Davis does something right, Bush and Simon start running to the left of Davis on the enviroment! Bush is absolutely incredible in his embracement of liberalism.
CT: Though your opinions are often well thought out and learned, IMHO, you may not grasp the seriousness of Grayout's problems. I personally know 'Rats who have been essentially forced to give him money but say they will not vote for him. He is going to have to have one of the biggest GOTV/vote fraud efforts to get near the traditional 'Rat vote. He is as detested an incumbent as I have ever seen. Simon is just beginning to make his move. Methinks you may be pleasantly surprised come November....
Remember, if there are six Democrats for every four Republicans, all you have to do is convince two of those Democrats to stay home and you have an even race. As you well know, Gray Davis has been working very hard (in a covert effort financed by the Simon campaign, no doubt) to make this happen.
If Simon can convince one more than half the undecideds to vote for him, he's just won the election.
In view of how repellant Davis is, including the downright fraudulent nature of his current anti-Simon ads, I think this is eminently doable.
In any event, your commentary would be appropriate for someone who was, say, 10-20 points down in the race, but not to someone who's either dead even or ahead of his opponent. This is especially true considering the now cringeworthy views of the LA Weekly, who said he didn't even have a chance of getting into the ballpark.
In my opinion, Simon has an excellent chance of winning. He's not perfect - who is? - but I'm convinced he has what it takes to win.
D
... I am constantly amazed by the people that think the left can be persuaded.
Conclusion? Try to persuade the Rats to vote for you instead of a REAL Rat by looking like a Rat. Uh huh.
OTOH Eureka!'s post #8 is on the money. One of the three most knee jerk Rats I know will NOT vote for Davis because he has almost destroyed the state already and probably will finish the job if reelected. This guy will also NOT vote for Simon--even in a Rat suit. (I haven't discussed it with the other two KJ Rats.)
You do have a good point on Davis's likely strategy of making Simon look as dirty as Davis, but do not underestimate the disgust and sometimes even rage against Davis.
Also, this state is NOT liberal except in the big cities. Yeah, I know the majority of the population is in the big cities, but 911 has caused a major attitude correction. I don't think we'll really know the extent of that until the actual elections, but there are indicators. KSFO has become the most popular radio station in our area--including San Francisco. KSFO is extremely conservative. In fact it is so conservative that you wouldn't like it because they regularly criticize the increasingly liberal moves President Bush is making. Those moves are a mistake and dressing Simon in a Rat suit is a mistake IMO.
In other words, this state is liberal.
I agree. Go Simon!
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I've been working on that for over a month.
Why aren't you including Ron Rogers in that comment? You can't win an election in California by trying to out-pander the Democrats or going purely negative. We have plenty of money available to get Simon elected, but more important, we'll pound the streets to get it done... BUT if the Party starts to screw us (which they have been doing), then they'll have to buy the help and Eastern money is all Bill will get.
The real question is: Will Bill Simon and Russo/Marsh do what works and stop screwing the party base, or will they do what the Eastern Party establishment wants because that is who signs the contracts?
Davis has caused them a 'world of hurt', they will not vote FOR him, unless by fraud. Who will watch the 'vote tallies' in the CORE democRAT districts? Where 30% turnout mysteriously becomes 60%?
I no longer get internal polls. But I have learned through long experience to read what the national leaders are doing. Most of my analysis is done based on what I see people doing. If Simon were doing well and Davis were in big trouble of losing, then Dubya would be featuring him everywhere. He would be the object of several Dubya fund raisers, raising millions upon millions for the Simon Campaign. Dubya raised millions for Bob Taft here in Ohio. It is a way to tie Bob Taft, who is sure winner, to Dubya. Dubya is also raising huge sums for other Republicans that only have a chance to win. Dubya ain't doing much for Simon. That is a very very very good clue.
The stories about Dubya and Simon are all about Dubya ordering Simon to get some pro's on board and to listen to them. If Simon were doing well, all you would hear about is Dubya giving his full support to Simon. Since Dubya is not doing that, I can only conclude that Simon is not doing well in the internal party polls.
You understand who is ahead in the horse race is not what is important at this stage. That is not what internal polls are about. It is not what people are telling you about voting that counts. It is about the base reaction to Simon as a person that counts. It is what they are going to do in November that counts. And that can be predicted. It is far more accurate than the media hyped horse race numbers. They at this stage are worthless. For example we knew that Bush SR was going to win in 1988, even when the horse race said Dukakis was 20 points ahead. Dukakis knew it too.
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