Posted on 01/27/2002 7:46:57 AM PST by CounterCounterCulture
Published Sunday, Jan. 27, 2002, in the San Jose Mercury News
BY DION NISSENBAUM
Mercury News Sacramento Bureau
SACRAMENTO -- As Republican gubernatorial front-runner Richard Riordan speeds his way toward the March primary, he has distinguished himself with his unapologetic habit of dodging details, skirting specifics and sticking to stock slogans.
It's a novel strategy and, so far, it appears to be working.
With the GOP primary closing in, Riordan hasn't told voters how he would balance the $100 billion state budget, whether he would back a sales tax on Internet shopping or how he would streamline an education bureaucracy he says is strangling schools.
Instead, he vows to provide ``leadership,'' hire the ``best and brightest'' and ``empower'' them to get the job done. What the job is isn't exactly clear.
The former Los Angeles mayor and multimillionaire has begun to draw increased criticism for his lack of specifics but, with his two top challengers struggling to gain traction, Riordan's approach may carry him all the way to the Republican nomination on March 5.
``It's a good strategy for right now,'' said Mark Baldassare, poll director of the non-partisan Public Policy Institute of California. ``If you give people a lot of details, it's possible that the support can erode.''
There is little evidence that Riordan's vagueness is hurting his campaign. He stands more than 20 points ahead of his nearest primary opponent in the polls and continues to collect millions in donations from Republicans looking for a centrist to topple Democratic Gov. Gray Davis.
Secretary of State Bill Jones, the GOP contender with the most political experience and least campaign cash, tried to turn Riordan's strategy into a liability during Tuesday night's televised debate, pointedly suggesting it was not enough to promise to hire the best and brightest.
``You have to have some vision,'' he said.
But Riordan ignored the attempts to draw him into a confrontation.
For his part, Riordan denies that he is running from details. Although he won't say how he would close a $12.5 billion hole in the state budget, he has suggested a variety of tax cuts and business breaks to boost the economy.
``You're taking a leap of faith if you vote for Bill Jones, you're taking a leap of faith if you vote for Bill Simon,'' said Ron Hartwig, the head of Riordan's campaign. ``You're not taking a leap of faith if you vote for Dick Riordan. Why? Because he has an eight-year track record.''
Jones also has a track record after 20 years in government. The state's top elected Republican has laid out plans to deal with terrorism, the budget gap and energy. Simon, a Los Angeles businessman and political novice, has offered the most detailed policy plans of the three.
In event after event, Riordan offers little more than a broad sketch of his ideas. On Wednesday, Riordan appeared in Silicon Valley to unveil his education plan. The speech lasted 15 minutes and focused on steering more money to the classroom and giving parents more information about what's happening in schools.
During the hour in which Riordan was quizzed on everything from campaign finance reform to the death penalty, the former mayor used some version of the terms ``empowerment,'' ``best and brightest'' and ``inclusive'' 17 times, more than once every four minutes.
Bruce Cain, a political science professor at the University of California-Berkeley, said the approach may be novel, but is similar to the successful campaign of President George W. Bush. In that contest, the Bush campaign focused more on leadership style than on substance.
Bush came across as a folksy, likable leader who might not know much about international affairs, but had proven as Texas governor that he was a non-partisan leader who could get things done. By contrast, Vice President Al Gore flaunted his detailed knowledge of trade policy and global environmental threats, but failed to overcome his image as stiff and robotic.
Riordan has sought to spotlight a similar distinction between he and Davis.
While Riordan boasts of hiring smart people and giving them plenty of room to do their jobs, Davis is a notorious micromanager who has been criticized for being too cautious.
``There's no way Riordan is ever going to be a policy wonk candidate,'' Cain said. ``He may get pushed to a higher level of specificity in the fall, but -- when it comes right down to it -- we'll have a contrast in management styles in November.''
I've been hearing that Democrats love him. They are all for him. Anyone else getting that?
Right now, I want to support Simon, but you're right, we all need to support him if he's going to win (obviously) and right now Riordan's the one with the momentum.
1. If that is the choice, it is obvious Californian have not been punished enough to embrace the necessary changes needed in the state (in 1995 the 100 billon dollar budget if 2002 was about 48 billion dollars) and
2. If it's a choice between a democrat and a Rino (a demo in the closet) why not vote for the real thing?
Looks like my vote for governor is going to be "none of the above!
I am being totally serious when I ask WHY you would want Riordan to win, especially if you are of the mind that Simon is a good Candidate.
After several weeks of this, you sound too intellegent to me to fall for the belief that Riordan would behave like a Republican, appoint any Republicans to the hundreds of high level state jobs in the governor's office, or for that matter endorse any Republicans in the future. He didn't do any of that as mayor of LA.
In fact, I would venture that it is 50-50 that as governor Riordan would endorse Bush, and there is a good chance he would endorse Daschle or whoever the Dem nominee is in 2004. I am not exaggerating or being facetious.
President Bush asked Riordan to run, by the way, so I doubt Riordan would not endorse President Bush.
I've been pondering the strategic vote, that's why I haven't been sure what to do in the primaries. Riordan could beat Davis. Could Simon? If all the GOP rallied, maybe. But people seem to be all over the place.
no...that's a myth that Riordan is propagating. Bush has NOT taken a stand in the primary. Riordan HAS said however that he is prepared to "embarrass the Bush administration on healthcare issues" if he becomes governor.
Riordan has also endorsed Diane Feinstein TWICE over her very moderate Republican opponents - what gives?
For the record Riordan DID ask Bill Simon to run, and then decided to jump in after Simon had ponied up the seed money for campaign effort.
A change in the political landscape A movement to draft pro-choice, pro-gay rights Richard Riordan for governor gains steam. Can the outgoing L.A. mayor usher in a new era for the California GOP? - - - - - - - - - - - -
By Anthony York
June 25, 2001 | SAN FRANCISCO -- Meet the new savior of the California Republican Party: a politician who gave money to California Gov. Gray Davis, endorsed liberal Democrat Bill Lockyer for attorney general and Democrat Dianne Feinstein for the U.S. Senate -- twice. A man who ruled Los Angeles, forging alliances with Latinos and organized labor. A man who is pro-choice and an advocate for gay rights.
With their numbers in steady decline, California Republicans are increasingly turning to Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan as their best hope for challenging Davis in the 2002 gubernatorial election. An aggressive draft-Riordan effort is underway, and the mayor is expected to announce a gubernatorial exploratory committee in mid-July. That's encouraging news for the ideologically diverse posse of conservative and liberal Republicans coalescing around this unpredictable politician, who has what many would term questionable GOP credentials.
Still, Riordan's candidacy may be the best hope for breathing new life into California's floundering Republican Party, which is still coping with the end of the Reagan revolution. In the past eight years, the party has lost control of the governor's office, the state Assembly and all but one of the statewide elective offices. Democrats enjoy nearly veto-proof majorities in both legislative houses, and both of the state's U.S. senators are Democrats. The last Republican presidential candidate to carry the state was George Bush, in 1988.
All this has not been lost on the White House. Earlier this month, President Bush called Riordan to urge him to enter the race. Choose your own best reason for the White House involvement: For starters, Riordan would immediately become the strongest candidate in the field, and any chance Bush has of carrying the state in 2004 would be made easier with a sympathetic governor. The leading declared GOP candidate, California Secretary of State Bill Jones, endorsed Sen. John McCain in the 2000 California primary. And clearly, the White House would love nothing more than a bloody race for Davis, who has been a persistent thorn in its side. And, of course, if Davis is reelected, he will be increasingly mentioned as a possible challenger to Bush in 2004.
Riordan's increasing support among California conservatives -- Reps. Dana Rohrabacher and David Dreier are among those who have endorsed his candidacy for governor -- and moderates speaks to the slowly swelling discontent within California's Republican Party. The party of Reagan, with its Sun Belt social conservatism and strident anti-communist and anti-government mantras, is searching for an identity. Reagan dominated the political landscape in the state for more than two decades, from his first gubernatorial run in 1966 to the end of his presidency in 1988, fusing pro-business, anti-government proselytizing with a strong social conservative push to forge a new political majority in the state.
It took 10 years for the national Democratic Party to come to terms with this sea change, but by the early '90s it had, moving to the center under the leadership of the Democratic Leadership Council. Similarly, Republicans, without a leader of Reagan's charisma to reunite the party, are now struggling with the post-Reagan consensus that has formed in California.
California's dramatic demographic shift -- most notably an explosion in the Latino population and a doubling of Latinos as a percentage of the state's voters -- has also changed the political landscape. California voters are now overwhelmingly pro-choice, and seek to balance business concerns with environmental protection. Government is no longer seen as the monster it was under Reagan, and is increasingly deemed to be part of the solution as issues like education and healthcare rise to the top of the list of California voters' concerns.
As Democrats have moved toward the center, Republicans have been left with the less politically palatable fragments of the Reagan revolution. And for the past decade, an ongoing debate within the party has been whether the GOP should continue fighting for those fragments or shelve some of the issues -- notably abortion and strident anti-environmentalism -- in favor of more moderate positions.
Cue Richard Riordan. Of course, there is no guarantee that the 71-year-old outgoing mayor will enter the race, though his supporters say it's increasingly likely. The draft-Riordan movement was sparked when the Field Poll, released this spring, showed Riordan in a dead heat with Davis, while declared GOP candidates Secretary of State Jones and Bill Simon Jr., millionaire son of Richard Nixon's Treasury secretary, trailed far behind.
"I'm going to think very long and hard about it," Riordan said in a recent interview with the San Diego Union Tribune. "I really don't know ... My focus right now is on the city."
If Riordan does enter the governor's race, the GOP primary will be an overdue referendum on the party that Reagan built. The implicit questions: Is the Reagan coalition simply a relic of an old California? And are California Republicans ready for Riordanism to replace Reaganism?
"Not in my lifetime, that won't happen," says Ken Khachigian, a former top Reagan strategist who is less than thrilled by the prospects of a Riordan gubernatorial bid. "I think it would take some kind of mass blood transfusion for Reaganism to end."
But one GOP consultant who requested anonymity says the interest in Riordan among conservatives shows "there is a maturing in the party and the realization that this is no longer Reagan's California."
That doesn't mean that it's necessarily Riordan's, either. "I don't even know what Riordanism is on a statewide level," Khachigian says. "What mayors do in municipalities is not quite the same thing they would do when they're running a state."
It happens all the time. I've watched pols do it to reporters before. "Don't quote me, but the governor called and said he's with me on this bill."
I just don't understand why they sometimes swallow it and other times they want a source. It can't be because reporters have biases, can it?
I'm still looking for some input about voting strategically in the primaries.
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