Analysis: Californians buck nation's GOP trend

Sac Bee ^ | 11/7/02 | Margaret Talev

[NormsRevenge]

Joseph T. Kung of Diamond Bar, a supporter of GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon, rejoices at Simon's early lead in returns Tuesday night at Simon's headquarters in Los Angeles. But later, Simon conceded to Democratic foe Gray Davis, who won re-election by about five percentage points. Republicans were thwarted by Democratic strongholds like L.A. and San Francisco.

[NormsRevenge]

Thank You Mr. Kung, for all your hard work for Bill Simon.

[NormsRevenge]

DUDE!!! Love the hat!!!

[TMD]

Good Lord, I'm going to have to find another state to move to....Gray-out Davis is well on his way to turning the Republic of Kalifornia into a 3rd world nation

[Asclepius]

But for Democrats, who also control both chambers of the Legislature, the overall picture is now one of long-term, one-party dominance that only their own overconfidence or lingering economic malaise threatens to undo.

California will entertain the rest of our country with the absurd spectacle of un-checked Democratic rule.

It's going to be expensive when it comes time to bail them out, however.

[Drango]

The next few years will be very expensive...very.

[goodnesswins]

It just seems like Californians have decided to flush themselves down their own toilet....to 3rd world status.

[Wallace T.]

California may be an even more foul liberal hellhole than such Eastern liberal strongholds as Maryland and Massachusetts, which have some semblance of a two party system. Conservative whites will continue to flee the state, and productive businesses will also find better places to operate than "tax, spend, and regulate" California.

Is there any way we can have Canada give us Alberta and let them have California?

[joesnuffy]

We give our citizenship away too cheaply....
IMO only property owners and those who have served honorably in the US Military should be allowed to vote

[DB]

The state will go to the right again when LA gets nuked...

[daviddennis]

I thought Bill was very classy to acknowledge Joe. See text and video here on my Olvera Street Freep site

D

[Destructor]

Kalifornians are determined to be Communists.

[Doctor Freeze]

I didn't think Kalifornia was still a part of the U.S.

[.38sw]

With this election, California has become even more isolated and irrelevant (yes, I live in California).

[Heff]

My condolences to the people of California. However, all things considered you were stupid enough to vote for all democrats...I hope they tax you into oblivian.

On a similar note, California is not the only state to be that stupid...we have New Jersey...where I live. We just elected 78 year old Frank Lautenboob, who retired from the Senate two years ago. He did nothing for NJ for 18 years and has so little clout in Washington, he will do even less than nothing in this term.

California and New Jersey...the country's bookends. It must be the ocean water...our voters are so stupid.

[Sergio]

Be easy on us. Remember, almost half of us voted GOP, a higher percentage if you count actual counties won by Simon.

But there is a silver lining. With complete Dem control of the state, they can't blame the comming train wreck on anyone but themselves. And as a bonus, the GOP candidates in other races can always use us as an example. "See what happens when you let the Dems be in charge."

Some people (states) only exsist to be an example of what NOT to do. If it helps our Nation as a whole, become a better place, then I can live with the roll I've been given.

Consider me a missionary trying to convert the clueless.

Best Regards

Sergio

[NormsRevenge]

Condolences accepted , Thanks... and backatcha for Frank da Fossil and the demRat illegal candidate swap.

Our states are both sucking wind politically .. love those ocean breezes tho ;-)

[CounterCounterCulture]

It's not that Democrats' share of registered voters is growing. Registered Democrats have for years outnumbered Republicans by about 10 percentage points.

What's growing is the pool of decline-to-state voters, largely political moderates who support abortion rights and gun control. Democrats have successfully painted Republicans as too conservative for them.

Interesting these paragraphs are side-by-side. Simon lost by 5% (assuming absentee ballots keep the number the same), so Simon captured more of the "decline-to-state" "moderates" than Davis did.

Somebody posted hard numbers of the murky middle cross-overs, but I can't find it right now.

Not too bad considering Davis' $20-30 bucks per vote.

But still, Simon's loss is our loss.

[rockrr]

"On a similar note, California is not the only state to be that stupid..."

And we in Washington have to live with our "neighbors" that re-elected "Baghdad" Jim McDimwitt.
The only shine to our otherwise dismal election year is that the 'RATS, in their idiomatically hypocritical way, chose to reject several boondoggle spending referendums (Ref 51 in particular) because they discovered that they would have to spend their OWN money, not just someone else's.

[wizr]

Yeah, the next ballot will include a proposal to rename Southern California to Northern Tijuana.

The San Francisco Bay Area citizens will become NeoWestern Greecians.

[ambrose]

Let's not kid ourselves... the Greenie got 5% of the vote. Those commie pukes would have gone with Davis if they had thought the election was close. There really wasn't much of a chance with Simon given Davis' advantages and Simon's inept campaign.

Lest we forget our history, Pete Wilson won re-election in 1994 with high unfavorables, and the 'Rats stormed back 4 years later. Prior to 1998, CA had 16 years of continuous rule by Republican governors. Maybe the pendulum will swing back in 2006. Maybe.