#1 - Prop 22 passed by 60+% of the voters. Why is Simon pandering to a minority, liberal, special interest group at the risk of alienating his base? His new 'friends' won't be voting for him.
#2 - Two months before the election is not the time to try and sell conservatives on the virtue of gay partnerships. The sentiment on this issue has already been conveyed by the above Prop, keeping in mind that the 60+% is composed of moderates, independents, and probably liberals. Why is the will of the majority consistently being subverted by Democrats and Republicans alike?
#3 - Most of us DO NOT CARE who people have sex with (regardless of our personal religious views). We do care however when these people demand special treatment because of it. Beyond civil rights, gay issues should not be issues at all. Why are these people entitled to 'Gay Pride Day' and why should the rest of us be forced to endure it?
Exactly the point I made on another thread. Its not Simon's advocacy of securing equal rights for gays people have a problem with its his securing special treatment for them that turns them off. If he said gays should have the right to live together and their private life was none of the government's business no one would really feel let down - since after all we Californians are a pretty tolerant bunch. Where Simon erred was to pledge the state government would use its powers to confer public recognition on homosexuals just as in for example a Gay Pride Day. It left a lot of base with the impression that not only is Simon walking away from traditional values, he's bent on repeating Dickie Pooh's mistake in the primary of forcing a set of cultural liberal values upon them that they've rightly rejected. If you want to put your campaign in full meltdown mode, embracing a cultural liberal agenda is a pretty good way to get it done.