I don't see this as looking so bad; in an agriculture summit, surely you are trying to find out people's concerns about agriculture. If you're anything like me, you leave it with a bunch of notes, a reading list a mile long, and a desire to consider the ramifications of the event. For someone to push a microphone in your face and ask what you think is highly unlikely to come up with a good result.
This general policy is quite similar to how I would tackle a similar situation. I don't think his ignorance of issues that are peripheral to his campaign means a great deal; until Simon has had time to think, I don't believe he is likely to have a considered opinion to share.
I expect him to have a good understanding of the budget, based on careful study, and the power crisis, based on same. But I don't expect him to come into office knowing every detail about every program around. And this is how the press can (quite unfairly) trip him.
If you really want your governor to have some familiarity with every program in the book, including all the constituents it supports and their campaign contributions for the last ten years, then, well, you want Gray Davis to be your governor.
The fact that he proved to be exceptionally poor at using this information for the public good should, of course, have absolutely no influence over your decision.
Based on what I know about Simon, I think he's a big picture guy who will learn fast, and who won't lose sight of his basic principles. Davis is a detail oriented micromanager who will be deep in the forest looking at individual trees, while the whole forest is being destroyed by a landslide. I trust Simon to recognize the landslide right away. Davis won't recognize it until he's halfway down the hill.
Our state faces nearly unprecedented big picture problems. The details can take care of themselves, but if the governor doesn't understand the broad outlines of what's going on, we have disaster on our hands. That's why Simon's my man. He's not perfect, but I'm confident in his ability to understand and focus on the tough times ahead.
And that's what we need. Desperately.
D