The Accidental Candidate, Dogged Simon Soldiers On

The accidental candidacy of Bill Simon Jr. began in the fall of 2000, when Simon -- staring down his 50th birthday, recovering from his father's death, feeling a void in his life -- was hit up for a political donation by a state Republican official who offered up the requisite praise that fund-raisers use to lather up donors: Why don't you run?

Three months later, a team of Sacramento consultants was cranking out glossy booklets featuring Simon's beaming visage and mapping out a dark-horse strategy for him to win the Republican nomination for governor.

The neophyte candidate had moved to California 10 years earlier, voted sporadically and had never been involved in state politics.

His most prominent backer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, was the lame-duck mayor of a city 3,000 miles away who was going through a messy divorce. And to win the GOP nomination, Simon had to get past former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan.

While Simon's top strategists were confident, other campaign staffers assumed they were laboring on a lost cause.

Join Us at one of the Upcoming California FREEPER Events - FReeP GraYouT StateWide Down the 2002 Home Stretch!!!
...DATE../..TIME...	...CITY../..SITE...	...ADDRESS../..Link to Map if available	...MORE INFORMATION...
Sunday 10/20/2002 - 1 pm	Thermal / Coachella, CA	Coachella Valley High School 83-800 Airport Blvd Coachella [Thermal], CA Thread on Free Republic with map	Everyone able to attend is encouraged to arrive at 12 pm. The UFW Rally Starts at 1 pm. Bring signs, banners, whatever! Be creative. FOR SALE signs are HOT!!!
Sunday 10/20/2002 - 4 pm	Oxnard, CA	Oxnard Performance Arts Center 800 Hobson Way	Reconning event for more info.
Monday 10/21/2002 - 12 pm	Chico, CA	CSU-Chico Corner of Warner St and Big Chico	CHICO AREA FREEPERS, HERE YA GO! A RARE OPPORTUNITY to DUMP DAVIS!!! Gather at NOON! Bring your "For Sale: Gray Davis!" signs
Monday 10/21/2002 - 3 pm	Eureka, CA	Warfinger Building Next to Small Boat Basin Near Washington and the Bay	Reconning event.
Tuesday 10/22/2002 - 7 pm	Palo Alto, CA	Hyatt Rickey’s 4219 El Camino Real Palo Alto, CA Cross Streets: El Camino Real and Arastradero/Charleston in Palo Alto	BAY AREA DUMP DAVI$ Rally - Rescheduled Event GraYouT Davi$ Cancelled this the Last Time because he was BUSTED on the High Speed Rail Pay-Off! Freepers, Gather at 6:00 pm Bring your "For Sale: Gray Davis!" Signs - BRING 'EM
Tuesday 10/23/2002	Los Angeles, CA	TBD	Need some Reconning event for more info. Can a Freeper Chamber of Commerce member check in on location for this? Thanks

It is really too bad, but from what I've seen Simon doesn't need to have the press pound on him. He has made serious mistakes, coming across as having no more brains than a box of rocks.

It seems Nofziger was right.

And no, I don't support Riordan and I'm not a liberal Democrat!

Good catch!

I'll ping my list.

Memories:

California Power Crisis animations featuring Governor Gray Davis

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He has made serious mistakes, coming across as having no more brains than a box of rocks.

Have you met and talked with him? He's no dummy. "Simon's mistakes" were largely those of his campaign, many of whom are IMO "Republican moderates" deliberately stabbing him in the back. The treatment has been the same for at least half a dozen conservative candidates nationwide. It was Carl Rove who put Gerry Parsky in charge of the CRP, and Parsky has an ax to grind against the Simon family, and as far as I can tell the bad blood is Parsky's own fault.

Meanwhile, Bill Simon has too much class to bitch about his people, the bad press, and crooked BS out of Gary South and just keeps plugging. I admire his courage. Not many people would put up with that much crap that Bill Simon has, much of it from his own side.

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