[Sabertooth]

Simon has stumbled here and there, much to the delight and wishful thinking of the "I told you so" Riordan contingent around these parts. While perhaps not the ideal candidate, given his inexperience, Simon was the best of the GOP field in the primaries.

I do wish Simon would bang on Davis more for the bonded indebtedness issue. Many Californians have no clue as to the boat anchor of debt that Davis has chained to their future taxes.

[vbmoneyspender]

Have you heard Simon talking about tax cuts? I wish he would talk a little bit more about cutting taxes. Also, I have been wondering for awhile why the Republican party doesn't put a tax cutting initiative on the ballot ala Prop. 13. It's a tried and true strategy to make the liberals go bonkers. It seems to me that an initiative which cut the sales tax or the income tax would be a great issue to define the differences between the Republicans in this state and the Democrats.

[dalereed]

"I do wish Simon would bang on Davis more for the bonded indebtedness issue. Many Californians have no clue as to the boat anchor of debt that Davis has chained to their future taxes"

I'm equally if not more concerned with the bond issues that are on the ballot.

If there is a decent voter turnout they will probably all be passed by those that don't have to pay for them.

[tubebender]

I do wish Simon would bang on Davis more for the bonded indebtedness issue

Or how about the recent signed sales tax on some real estate...that is a biggie.

[AmusedBystander]

I do wish Simon would bang on Davis more...

That will certainly get him more votes from the San Francisco area. LOL

[daviddennis]

I absolutely hear you on this point, Sabertooth. It's one of the most important issues of the election, incalculably more important than whether Davis accepted contributions in the State House or not.

I think Simon feels that corruption is easier to explain to the voters. And Freepers seem to agree; the protest signs I have filmed are overwhelmingly hammering on the "Davis is corrupt" theme, even though the real news story is that he's running our state straight into a black hole.

I would like to see more signs that talk about Davis' management problems, such as the delightful "Davis can't run California, so why should we trust him to run California" theme. I did love the signs about the power crisis ("Got power?", etc) and think we should make a few more.

How about "Black Hole Davis", with the vortex of money being sucked into the state budget, never to be seen again?

I hope I don't seem presumptuous making these suggestions as someone who has never hoisted a sign in protest. But I have made my pictures and videos of Freeper events, so I've probably spent more time looking at what we've done than most.

Republicans generally turn out in greater numbers than Democrats, which is why we have had numerous Republican governors in this supposedly heavily Democratic state. Combine that with likely apathy on the Democratic side due to a strong dislike of their candidate, and I see this election eminently winnable for Simon, regardless of all the bizarre sideshows.

Despite all the mud being slung, I don't think anyone who's met him or seen him in the debate seriously questions Simon's integrity and competence. You will note that Davis didn't sling much mud in the debate, because he knew it wouldn't stick with Simon live to rebut him.

I am puzzled by all the "Simon is bad" stories, which I think is a major reason why "Simon is dead" stories get so much reaction. Those of us who've seen him in action know he's an excellent candidate. The basic problem with the campaign is not him personally, but the huge disparity in resources between him and Davis. This makes it very difficult to get the message out - but even with that difficulty, the Simon campaign and Davis missteps have managed to make this race basically a dead heat -- even though the media constantly says it's an easy Davis win.

Now think about what we could do if we were just a tad better at sticking together! I think that if we all unite and make sure we all vote, we can win this thing against an opponent even the left hates.

D

[Hildy]

I think people here don't understand quite how bad Davis is thought about here, even by Dems. I said this on another thread that my brother, who is basically apolitical told me that he registered this year to vote. He said he only did it to vote AGAINST Davis. He thinks Davis' TV campaign against Simon is outrageous. He's voting against him on that alone. Then there's this whole Latino thing. If Simon wins, it'll be because everyone hates Davis so much. That being said, I still think Davis will squeak this one out.