Then, you wrote: I don't remember the Simon numbers, but I looked up Davis vs. Lundgren and Lundgren got about 35% of the votes -- i.e. all Republicans voted for him and nobody else. I think Davis got some 56% of the votes.
I think Simon vs. Davis was similar.
Finally, in answer to my asking you what percentage voted for Bill Simon over Davis in 2002, you wrote: Davis 47%, Simon 42%. As I said, Davis won handliy.
Nice try at face-saving, but you didn't make it. You actually thought Gray Davis not only won a majority of the 2002 vote, you thought he won "handily." Now, for the truth, F.O.:
On Friday, November 1, 2002, four days before the election, the always Demo-tilted Field Poll projected Davis with 41% of the vote, Simon with 34%, and a whopping 17% undecided.
The always Demo-tilted San Francisco Chronicle reported in its November 6, 2002 post-election edition that Davis had won a "tight race":
"Handily." Yeah, right. To paraphrase Tommy Lee Jones as Marshal Sam Gerard in The Fugitive: "Do you want to change your bull---- story, sir?"
Los Angeles -- Gov. Gray Davis, after a caustic and costly campaign that tested the patience of state voters, won re-election Tuesday night, squeezing out a surprisingly tight victory over Republican businessman Bill Simon.Simon called to congratulate Davis on his victory at 11:40 p.m. and an upbeat and relieved Davis finally came out of his hotel room to speak to cheering supporters just before midnight.
(snip)
[B]ack-and-forth, razor-thin margins in the early vote count were a surprise for Davis, who for months had confidently predicted a double-digit victory.
In recent days, [Davis' political director Garry] South had scaled back the optimism and said Davis would win by 8 to 12 percentage points. Anything less, he added, "would be a disappointment."
Simon rolled up big numbers in California's interior, a growing Republican stronghold, but it wasn't enough to overcome huge Democratic margins in the urban Democratic strongholds of Los Angeles and the Bay Area.
Good job, Smithee... Excellent work!!!