Posted on 10/21/2004 10:46:56 AM PDT by LouAvul
U.S. Senate candidate Bill Jones has been unable to come up with the $2 million he had promised to spend on his campaign, a top aide said Wednesday, dimming the chances that his cash-strapped campaign will launch a single television ad before the Nov. 2 election.
Jones' senior strategist, Sean Walsh, said the campaign needs a major infusion of cash, but that Jones "has not been able to successfully liquidate his assets to put into the campaign."
"Without a significant contribution from the candidate, it will be very difficult to put any meaningful advertising on television," Walsh said.
Even if he could come up with the cash, political experts said, it is too late for Jones to narrow Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer's yawning lead with 12 days left in the race.
Republican consultant Dave Gilliard said it would be difficult for Jones to get his ads on airwaves already heavily booked with political ads.
In any case, Gilliard said, the race is over.
"It's just too late to start advertising in that race," he said. "This race is put to bed. A candidate can't wait until the last week to start a campaign."
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
I wish we could declare a "mulligan" and re-do the Cal. GOP senate primary. For crying out loud, the guy has had seven months to get his act together! My boss (who oversees our organization's PAC) told me that Jones has never been a good fundraiser. Wished I'd known this before I voted for the guy.
Most incompetent campaign by a "big name" candidate against a vulnerable incumbent... ever?
The RNC has abandoned us left coast Republicans. After last year's landslide recall of Gray Davis, they could have easily seized on the momentum and sent Boxer packing. You BLEW IT! Shame on you! We're still here.
Somebody needs to give Tom McClintock a good talking to. All he had to do was stay in the news and RUN and the Senate seat was his - hands down.
California Republicans need to suit up if they're going to play with the big boys.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/recall/20031012-9999_1n12recall.html
We have SQUANDERED the perfect opportunity to take back this state.
Precisely. Jones didn't bother to campaign this entire election season. I personally know of fundraisers for him that he blew off. In some cases, he simply didn't bother to show up. In others, he cancelled the event at almost the last minute. He blew off help from local Republican grassroots groups and headquarters. Why the man bothered to put his name in the ring in the first place is a mystery, since he clearly didn't want to campaign.
The only good thing about this situation is that Jones' political career is deader than a cold mackerel.
There has to actually be a campaign to reach the threshhold of incompetent. Jones never campaigned.
This thing with Jones has me so angry - we kept hearing how Boxer is vulnerable. Then WHY oh WHY did the Ca GOP run a lame-o like Jones?!! We will now have Boxer for another SIX YEARS.
I saw a Boxer ad on television a couple of nights ago, and found myself wondering why she bothered with advertising. She's winning this walking away, against an invisible opponent.
What's pathetic is Jones really fought to get the nomination... lined up Ahnold's endorsement, promised to spend millions of his own money, etc.
Good Lord!!! Will you stop the excuses already?! This is nobody's fault except one person: Bill Jones. We're supposed to be the party of personal responsibility. Well, it's time we learned to place the blame for election fiascos like this squarely where it belongs, with the candidate.
It is the candidate who self-selects him/herself to run. It is the candidate who makes what amounts to a compact between him/herself, the political party he/she represents, the grassroots volunteers and voters who work and vote for that party. If the candidate is unwilling to even bother to work on his own behalf — as has been the case with Jones — there is no way anyone can help him get elected. First and foremost, the candidate has to really want the job, and then has to have the fire in the belly to work as hard as possible for several months in order to earn that job.
You sure don't win elections by blowing off fundraisers, as I personally know Jones has done multiple times during these last several months. The RNC has more effective places they can spent our donations than on a useless sack of [blank] like Jones who won't even fight for his own election.
I totally agree with this! I became less and less of a fan of McClintock as the recall race wore on but must admit that he would have been perfect for the Senate. He would have had the name recognition to win (or at least come close) to Boxer. Quite frankly, at this point, just coming close will be an effective win. I'm hoping McClintock runs for Lt. Governor next time out. Then we'll know for sure.
Before you start throwing blame everywhere except where it belongs, please read my post #12 on this thread.
You are absolutely stone-cold right. I thought Republicans were into personal responsibility instead of whining about how "daddy" (i.e., the national party) won't help us. First we have to stand on our own two feed and prove we're capable before the national party will waste hard-earned money donated from around the country on us.
Politics 101: A person decides they want a particular elective office. They throw their hat in the ring. There is a primary. Somebody wins. The person who wins becomes the nominee of the party he/she represents.
The party, the volunteers, and the voters are entitled to some reasonable expectation that the candidate who went to the trouble to self-select him/herself for the job, paid the money to file candidacy papers, and ran in the primaries, will actually work during the general campaign to get elected. If you don't want to work for it, nobody's going to hand it to you.
Bill Jones DID NOT WORK FOR IT. Period. He did everything he could to alienate volunteers, blow off fundraisers and otherwise make himself the invisible candidate. Jones is at fault here and no one else.
I know. Apparently his whole candidacy and primary campaign was dishonest. As soon as he got the nomination, he folded his tent like a cheap traveling peddler.
No one could possibly know Jones wouldn't bother to campaign. Before you can expect people to support you, you first have to show interest in your own campaign. People voted for Jones in the primary because they believed he would actually run a campaign. They believed that, of the candidates who put their names in the ring for the nomination, Jones was the best known. After all, he was the one Republican who was able to win statewide election during the Davis era. We'll never know if Jones might have won this race, because he NEVER campaigned after he got the nomination. Once again, stop blaming everyone else for this man's own failure.
I'm aware of that, but the party also has a little to do with who makes it through the process - Arnold endorsed Jones, and that was good enough for a whoooole lotta primary voters. "I'm voting for Jones because Arnold endorsed him!" Party support and endorsements can help get a candidate through the process.
How often did we hear that? We saw a lot of that on FR, and I heard that from people around me. So we got stuck with Jones. If Arnold had endorsed someone viable, then maybe we'd have a real contest.
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