California: Davis shows no sign of letting up on ad onslaught -

The Contra Costa Times ^ | Aug. 12, 2002 | Alexa H. Bluth

[daviddennis]

Davis' material isn't good enough to make Simon look like a monster. The idea is to make him look like every bit as bad a failure in business as Davis has been as governor.

He does have to tread carefully. Consider all the anti-drinking and anti-drug messages you hear. I know that when I saw the heavy-handed messages in the California Drivers' Handbook, my first reaction was to want to go on a real bender. The only reason I didn't is that I happen to hate the taste of alcohol. The contrary message of the Davis commercials is "This guy Simon must be important if Davis spends all the time bashing him, and I know these commercials are rarely honest. How can I find out more about Simon?"

This does increase Simon's negatives, but I'm sure it also increases curiosity about the man. The other major impact it has is to make people very turned off about this election. I know from personal experience that if you are equally turned off by both candidates, you simply do not vote. For example, I didn't vote in the mayoral runoff election between James Hahn and Antonio Villagrosa because I found both candidates equally appalling.

The good news for us is that voters who are on Simon's side are highly motivated to go out for him, while Davis voters are hard-pressed to find any kind of enthusiasm for their candidate. This tilts the playing field in a major way towards Simon, as long as we all stick together. This is why I'm so annoyed by the defeatism I see in some quarters in FR. My contention is that this election is ours if we want it badly enough.

D