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Do I want Davis to win? No. The fact is that most of the public aren't going to tune in to the meaty issues until after schools starts. For now all they are going to do is form an initial opinion of Simon. My take is that the court decision from last week is going to hurt him.

And my response to that is "So what?" Should everyone just adopt Joe's defeatism and give up? There's no evidence of a drop in support (via polls) yet, if any will even occur. President Bush hasn't pulled back from his scheduled fundraiser. So whatever damage last week may or may not have done, folks need to press forward and keep the faith. These emotional rollercoasters (I'm not referring to you here) are simply a waste of energy. They remind me vividly of all manic depression during the summer of 2000. Every good Bush poll or article evoked celebration and high fives, while a subsequent pro Gore poll/article brought out the naysayers and handwringers.

Stay the course. Grayout Davis is a seriously wounded incumbent.

I downloaded and played Grayout's latest commercial from his web site.

First - and I say this affectionately, without malice - you're all idiots! What does this commercial mean? It means that Grayout, after all this time and effort, still has no confidence in his base. In fact, it means that the one-two punch of a strong Green Party candidate (who even likes Simon!) and Simon's moderate stands on the environment, is working.

The other thing it means is that Davis is continuing the negative strategy he has been using since the start, even though it's been increasing his own negatives faster than anything else.

Now, there's no doubt we've been dealt a setback, and a significant one. I'm sure Davis and South are cackling evilly in their lair about the possibilities surrounding the debacle. Just remember that at the same time they're trying to increase people's doubts, they will increase their negatives, too. Of course this is normally how negative campaigns work, but in this case there's an unusual added twist: Gray Davis' negatives are already so high that every increase in them greatly endangers his campaign.

It's downright dumb to give up on Simon just because he's received a setback or two. So has Davis. Both candidates are imperfect men, just like you and me. But that doesn't mean we don't know which one would be better for California, no?

You know guys, it isn't very comforting to read the posts from you. In those posts I read that you think I don't support Simon, I've given up on Simon, I think Davis is the better candidate, I'm folding at the hint of bad news or some other lunacy. Earth to my fellow forum participants, I'm addressing the impact of Davis commercials and whether that impact is going to gain some traction or not.

What am I supposed to think when you guys can't even address the issue I've addressed without extrapolating any of these assumptions on your part? Frankly it doesn't give me much confidence in Simon support.

Davis is a crook. Not only that he has mismanaged this state into a $25 billion dollar rat hole. His energy policies have been nearly fatal to the state's budget. His anti-gun stances are legendary. His environmental policies are laughable. At this point in time Simon should be ahead of him in the polls. At this point in time a dead corpse should be ahead of Davis in the polls.

Here you are finding fault with my comments when what you should be doing is trying to figure out why Simon isn't shellacing Davis in the polls. For when you figure that out, I think you're going to find that my comments and the comments of others on this thread are pointing to some real problems for Simon. And dismissing our comments out of hand or misconstruing their meaning and intent isn't going to get you anywhere.