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My hunch is this confirms that the 'crucial internal poll' taken after the trial verdict must have came back with some pretty bad news. The swing voters must have really been turned off, hence the high-risk gamble to alienate the base and go heavy moderate. To me this is a desperation move, but it might work. He's gambling that the dissatisfied clueless/soccer mom/bacchanal middle will take a socially liberal economic conservative over a bumbling Davis in enough numbers to override the social conservative sit-at-home. A reverse-Bloomberg strategy.

I smell Rove. Take a candidate who has bumbled himself into a corner, and run a libertine experiment as an election trial balloon. If it succeeds, could be a future model for wins in the Porn Belt. If it fails, well he was likely to lose anyway. Not that I agree with the strategy, but it is one scenario.

Wow, what a choice. Take the gamble of a lost battle in the culture war, while gaining a position of power to perhaps ultimately win the war. Cede ground now, while maneuvering for future battles. VERY risky, could backfire and lead to the ultimate loss. But a libertine CA GOP would at least help in the Senate and House.

OTOH, stay at home, and watch socialism further entrench and solidify. Perhaps a second Davis term implodes. But at what cost? Send the message that Bloombergs are the future? Risk the formation of a new Conservative party and the Naderization of the right?

Tinfoil silver lining theory: May hasten the migration of social conservatives to Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico, shoring up conservatism in these marginal swing states. If California is beyond retaking anytime soon, perhaps a write-off and recapturing of the remaining West could help to mitigate? Not that I believe that, but it is an interesting theory.

The one thing a successful candidate NEVER does is to alienate the base of his party. Bill Simon did best when he ran in the primary as the "conservative candidate." In the general election he thinks veering all the way to the cultural left will persuade people who'd never vote for him in a million years to vote for him oh because he's not really a committed conservative and all that talk of being one was just foderol to fool the party base in accepting him as one. In reality its a desperate move that will backfire and end up with Simon being scorned by both the left and deserted by the base. The left already has Davis and the right who now has no one to vote for will simply stay at home on election day. Sure the RINOs will try to use Simon's election defeat as evidence the party needs to go left but the truth is Simon is going to lose not because he ran as a true conservative but because he looked like a "me too" Gray Davis cultural liberal clone.

Wonder if this is a geographic triangulation and recruitment strategy. View it in a state's right perspective, the GOP goes to a big tent coalition of independent agents, and in theory Simon's stance is representative of the majority of CA voters. So bring them into the GOP by not threatening their emotional hot button issues, and siphon off a large portion of the Democrat swing vote by differing with the Dems only on their weakest issues. Build a comfort level and trust with these voters at the state level, and then gradually move them towards core conservatism in these areas. The south will stay culturally conservative, but CA is allowed its own version of the GOP tailored to its local culture. Kinda like predatory pricing, gain market dominance, squeeze out competitors, then gradually balance out fares to a sustainable level.

I disagree with such a strategy, but am wondering out loud about its possible existance. Given the precarious nature of the political balance, I could see the temptation of moving in such a direction. And in theory it fits better with limited-control conservatism. But as someone who believes that our most important division is the culture wars, I am very concerned about the risks of such a strategy.

Perhaps a second Davis term implodes. But at what cost?

We'll be bankrupt within a year or two, hopefully Davis will be in prison, then we'll be stuck with.......... Bustamante......who will complete our annexation to Mexico as 'El Norte'. Did he ever get around to completing his Bachelor's degree?

Risk the formation of a new Conservative party

We may have no choice. Maybe after the complete implosion at the hands of the Dems something good may come out of it.

Maybe? I'm angry now, but I may wake up in the morning with my pragmatist's hat on and see this action on Simon's part as way to get elected, although right now it looks like a net loss in many ways. I really question the man's principles at this point. Maybe in a midyear election like this, only certain groups, like the gays, are lock-ins to vote. Certainly Christians are notoriously poor at turning out to vote. Maybe there is a net gain here? My question- Does the gain in votes make up for the loss in principles? I really didn't think he needed to do this after Grey has fallen on his sword. Simon's people must have panicked. This is a desperation move.