DUMP DAVI$
GO SIMON
Posted on 10/03/2002 12:29:06 PM PDT by Tony in Hawaii
Click below for the audio, video, or text of Bill Simon's most recent campaign ads.
"Do You Know Me"
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The Unknown Candidate Hopes for an Upset [N.Y. Times on Bill Simon's "Do you know me?" ads]
The New York Times ^ | September 28, 2002 | JOHN M. BRODER
Posted on 09/28/2002 8:39 PM Pacific by RonDog
The Unknown Candidate Hopes for an Upset
By JOHN M. BRODER
ARDEN GROVE, Calif., Sept. 28 — "Do you know me?" asks the candidate as he strolls toward the camera in a new television advertisement that goes on the air next week across California.
After more than a year of campaigning, Bill Simon Jr., the Republican candidate for governor, is a virtual unknown to California voters. With five weeks left in the campaign, Mr. Simon is only now introducing himself to the electorate.
His handlers acknowledge that it is late in the game to be ringing electronic doorbells. They have limited money and little time to overtake Gov. Gray Davis, who has about $30 million in campaign money in the bank and a lead of at least eight percentage points in the polls.
But they are hoping that the broad unpopularity of Mr. Davis and the fresh, if unknown, face of Mr. Simon can combine to produce an upset on Nov. 5.
"The conventional wisdom is that it is too late to be introducing your candidate," said Rob Lapsley, Mr. Simon's campaign manager. "But this isn't a normal year. He should be out of it by now, but we're right in the middle of the race. It's all in how we close."
That is an optimistic reading of Mr. Simon's situation. He has barely enough money on hand to run two weeks' worth of statewide advertising. He has to somehow break through to voters who have expressed deep dissatisfaction with both candidates. He has to unite the feuding factions of the state's Republican Party, rally the faithful and somehow extend his appeal to millions of unaligned and uninspired voters.
In a poll released this week, the Public Policy Institute of California put support for Governor Davis at 40 percent, to Mr. Simon's 32 percent.
Both numbers represent diehard Democratic and Republican voters, and are unlikely to go any lower, according to analysts from both parties. In play are the 17 percent of voters who say they are undecided, and Mr. Simon has to win almost all of them to have a chance at winning.
"We've got enough time, and we're in striking distance," Mr. Lapsley said.
Other Simon advisers are somewhat less sanguine, at least when speaking anonymously.
"People are looking for someone to vote for," one senior member of Simon's staff said. "Until now, it hasn't been Davis, and it hasn't been Simon either. Davis has spent a ton of money and can't break 40 percent. Simon can't get on the air because he doesn't have the money. We have two candidates here who deserve to lose."
Garry South, chief strategist for Mr. Davis, said that Mr. Simon's new advertisement reminded him of the old American Express commercials that featured political has-beens asking the same question.
"I think Bill Simon has moved way beyond the window where he can introduce himself to the voters of this state," said Mr. South, who came to the Hyatt Regency here, where Republicans attending their state convention were having a meeting, and held a press conference in the hotel lobby. "You do that five months out, not five weeks out."
Mr. South said the Davis campaign would saturate the airwaves until Election Day, spending $2.5 million to $3 million a week in the state's major media markets.
Mr. Simon's campaign hopes he can raise half that amount to spend on television advertising.
In his address to Republican delegates today, Mr. Simon said his only hope for victory is to reach beyond core party voters, who make up only a third of the California electorate.
"I want to ask every Republican in this state to make it their personal responsibility to convince just one independent or just one Democrat to step over the line and support us," Mr. Simon said. "The future of our party and the future of California is dependent on you accepting this task."
"Do you know me?" -
The American Express Card bonus......BOMO Mitch Katz explains:
"Very simple--There was a really terrific AMEX TV ad campaign based on the premise that even really famous people don't get recognized, or have trouble managing money. At the top of every commercial you had a famous person looking into the camera saying, "Do you know me?"
Then they would recount an exploit, such as "I was the first man to climb Mount Everest." Then they would state a problem, such as "but I still forget to change my dollars into dinars before going to Nepal." Then they'd say, "That's why I carry the American Express card. It's recognized around the world, etc., etc." At the end of each commercial you'd see an American Express Card with the name of the famous person typed on while you watched.
I made up the preceding example, but I'm pretty sure that's how each commercial worked. I think the bonus asked for the 33 or so people who had appeared in the series over its lifetime. I believe the answers came from a New York Times Magazine print ad for American Express that appeared a few months prior to the contest that showed all the people from the campaign in one photo."
- William Miller
- Charles Conrad
- John McGiver
- Norman Fell
- Mel Blanc
- Rebecca Ann King
- Jack Nicklaus
- Carlton Fisk
- George Gallup
- Jim Marshall
- Bob Fosse
- Bill Blass
- Greg Morris
- Richard Anderson
- Benny Goodman
- Jack Gilford
- Sam Ervin
- Jim Henson
- Joe Morgan
- Barbara Feldon
- Pele
- Bob and Ray
- Francine Neff
- Carol Channing
- John Steinway
- Otto Preminger
- Virginia Wade
- Gunther Gabel-Williams
- Luciano Pavarotti
- James Fixx
- Sir Edmund Hillary
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