SIMON - DAVI$ DEBATE

The Media | 10/07/02

[NormsRevenge]

Just sitting here watching Davi$ dance. Simon looks good early. Davi$ looks sedated .. urr sedate .

[A CA Guy]

You want to play psychological warfare, but he's grown up.

[evilsmoker]

Yeah, Riordan who couldn't run a decent Primary campaign would have won the General. Where do you people get this stuff??

[evilsmoker]

You obviously don't know Bob Mulholland. And your comment about Riordan shows you don't know much about politics either.

[Feiny]

I don't think the article was tilted to Davis. I thought the AP writer was pretty even handed. This article is in the Sacramento Bee also.

[kellynla]

will be replayed today on the following stations:

KCRA-TV 3 (Sacramento) 1pm-2pm

KADY-TV 63 (Ventura-Santa Barbara) 6pm-7pm

[Saundra Duffy]

What good does it do to make negative comments at this point? (I voted for Bill Jones in the primary.) Bill Simon is a great guy!! He'll make a great governor. If all of us will just do our part and shut up already with all the negative comments, we can DUMP DAVIS and get a REAL MAN for Governor! GO, SIMON!!! For victory & freedom!!!

[Bonaparte]

A liberal wolf in Republican clothing would do no good for California conservatives. This is why Riordan, in spite of all the support he had from the WH, was thoroughly trashed. We saw right through him. If his past performance in office and campaign contributions are any guide, he would have been just as bad as Davis with the net effect of discrediting the Republican party. And thinking beyond this current state election, I have to ask myself, "Why boost a liberal onto the national stage?"

[eureka!]

Re#160 But of course. The presstitutes would have it no other way...

[NormsRevenge]

Sac Bee / AP

Simon and Davis trade charges in first televised debate

Published 12:40 p.m. PDT Monday, October 7, 2002

LOS ANGELES -- Trailing in the polls a month before Election Day, Republican Bill Simon accused Democrat Gov. Gray Davis of auctioning his office for campaign contributions in their first and perhaps only televised debate Monday.

Davis defended his four-year record during the hour-long debate, saying he has made the state safer while helping schools even in difficult times.

Simon used their only joint appearance of the campaign to blame the incumbent governor for the state's economic downturn, for alienating businesses and for squandering a record budget surplus.

He called on Davis to apologize for "a disastrous four years in office," particularly the "awful ethical tone that you've set in your administration."

Specifically, he blamed Davis for "failing to act and then panicking" during the energy crisis, and said "he completely mismanaged the state budget."

However, Davis said, "Despite tough challenges ... we've made real progress in California," on education, health care, the environment and public safety.

All illustrate what Davis called his "starkly different vision for California" from Simon. He called Simon "a son of the first family of the far right" who is "out of step with the values of most Californians."

Davis refused to rule out a midterm run for another office, such as president, should he be re-elected.

The governor wants to rebuild voters' confidence after the state's energy crisis last year, while Simon was hoping the debate would give him traction after a series of missteps and controversies surrounding his family business.

Yet statewide polls show neither candidate is popular with voters. And Monday's debate was largely a continuation of the attacks that have dominated the campaign.

"This has been an election that has been so lacking in a discussion of the issues, and the voters have told us that's what they want the candidates to do," said Mark Baldassare, survey director for the Public Policy Institute of California.

Instead, Davis has spent millions on television ads touting his record and bashing Simon, while Simon has sought to tie Davis' record-breaking fund-raising to his actions as governor.

Simon had complained that the single noontime debate, sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, was scheduled to reach a minimal audience as Davis tries to avoid missteps in the final weeks of the campaign.

He had tried unsuccessfully to invite Green Party nominee Peter Camejo to the debate as his guest, sparking a last-day tempest as Simon and Davis each briefly threatened a debate boycott.

Though Camejo and Simon have formed an unusual alliance to bash Davis from the left and right, Camejo said Monday he "is into total disagreement with Bill Simon" on the issues.

Scores of Davis supporters competed for attention with Green Party supporters outside the Times headquarters, at times drowning them out with chants of "Four more years."

A man dressed as Superman showed up supporting Simon, as did a man dressed as a prostitute, wearing a Davis mask and carrying a sign, "Will work for bribes." A third character was dressed as a chicken, accusing Davis of being too "chicken" to agree to additional debates.

Camejo wound up protesting his exclusion from outside the Los Angeles Times building. The newspaper said Camejo was excluded because he failed to gather the minimum 15 percent support of likely voters they said is necessary to prove his campaign is viable.

The Times said that's the same standard that has been used in presidential debates. Camejo received 4 percent of the likely vote in a poll last week by the Times, slightly more than other third-party candidates whom Simon has not asked be included.

The debate before an audience of invited guests was broadcast live on selected television stations in Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento and San Francisco.

It was the first time that Davis and Simon appeared together since Simon won the GOP nomination in March to challenge Davis. Davis skipped an earlier debate during which he was the target of political opposites Simon and Camejo.

-- Associated Press

[Diver Dave]

Was able to watch part of the live telecast and I'm recording the tape delayed broadcast from KCRA 3 - Sacramento.

KXTV 10 - Sac. will broadcast at 4 pm. PDT

I'd give the edge to Simon, but then I've always thought Davis was/is an idiot.

[dalereed]

I've never voted for a democrap in over 40 years of voting and if Riordan had won the primary, I would be voting for Davis. Riordan is worse than Davis by a long shot and that is saying a lot!

[daviddennis]

The Social Security people have been calling SS taxes "contributions" for decades. That kind of fraud is what Davis inherits.

D

[NEWwoman]

People came to California for the education?

I thought it was the cheese.

ROFLOL!!!!

Seriously, someone needs to create a joke books with these gems.

[Mary's Child]

I certainly don't think that Simon was unsure and rambled. Maybe you meant Davis??

[daviddennis]

Hey, congratulations on the press, Ron!

D

[Weimdog]

There is a link here for the debate transcript:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/

[NormsRevenge]

Cool!!

Thanks!!

Debate Transcript

The whole thing isn't there yet, but should be shortly.

[NEWwoman]

Many thanks for posting this. I was not able to see or hear the debate, so this was the next best thing. Sounds like Simon did us proud!

[NormsRevenge]

Simon's Opening

Mr. Simon, you have two minutes.

SIMON: Thank you, Hal. And thanks to the Los Angeles Times for
sponsoring today's debate.

Since Mr. Davis has determined that this will be the only debate,
we're going to have a lot of ground to cover today, and so I want
you to hear from me about why my broad experience is ideally
suited for me to be governor of California, and also some of my
ideas with respect to the challenges that face us here in
California.

What the people of California deserve to hear, but what they
probably won't from Mr. Davis, is an apology. First, an apology to
the people for the campaign he's run to date that's been full of
distortions and false attacks against me, my family, and even now
against my late father.

But much more importantly, an apology to all Californians for a
disastrous four years in office. The Wall Street Journal recently
reported, in comparing the nation's governors, and I quote, "Davis
recorded one of the worst performances of any governor in a very
long time," end quote.

Mr. Davis should apologize for failing to act and then panicking
during the energy crisis, which he's now recently acknowledged.
He promised us no bankruptcies, no bailouts, no rate hikes, yet
he's given us all three. And he completely mismanaged the state
budget. He turned a record budget surplus into a record budget
deficit approaching $27 billion, and it's now projected to add
another $50 billion in deficit over the next five years.

Taxes have gone up, services have been cut, hopes have been
crushed. We have schools that are ranked near last in the nation
in math and reading and dead last in science, schools in which
one out of every three classroom don't have enough textbooks,
one out of every four classrooms have rats, mice or cockroaches.
There are 2 million children trapped in failing schools.

Mr. Davis, you owe the people of Cal ifornia an apology for the
awful ethical tone that you've set in your administration, causing
all Californians...

MODERATOR: OK.

SIMON: ... to lose faith in their elected leaders.

MODERATOR: I'm going to have to be strict about time, because
we only have one hour.

[bootless]

A formidable weapon when used as a bludgeon -- especially those 60s IBMs. Ouch!

Can you just see him and algore in a typewriter fight?