Remember that the Establishment RINOs wanted Tricky Dick Riordan to be anointed. They dispatched Ah-nold Schwollenpecker to go meet him, and Ah-nold realized after spending a short time with him that Riordan was not mentally sound(!) and would not be able to credibly mount a campaign, so he decided to stand-in as the preferred leftist RINO.
I found it curious they mentioned on Wikipedia that Gov. Davis was more concerned about facing Tricky Dick than Bill Simon, Jr. in 2002. That would’ve presumed the Conservative base, which soundly rejected Riordan, would be on fire for his candidacy. I submit Riordan would’ve received fewer votes than Simon had he been the nominee. In fact, I think Riordan could’ve received the Demonrat nomination if he had gone that direction. He did absolutely nothing for the CA GOP.
Just as I absolutely refused to endorse Ah-nold, as he turned out to be every inch as bad as I predicted, I would similarly have refused to endorse Riordan. The state had only one sane option to put it back on the right track, and that was Tom McClintock.
I remember thinking Bill Jones...a statewide winner, should have been the nominee in 2002.