If Simon wins, the GOP elite will go south on us, hoping against a conservative upset of Davis.
A Simon win in November would be a thunderous war-cry against the DIABLAs.
Posted on 02/27/2002 8:45:35 PM PST by JohnHuang2
TownHall.com: Conservative Columnists: Thomas Sowell
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Thomas Sowell (back to story)
February 28, 2002
California republicans' choices
When California Republicans vote in next Tuesday's primary, they will face a much less difficult choice for their party's nomination for governor than they had just a few weeks ago. Until recently, liberal Republican Richard Riordan, former mayor of Los Angeles, was running ahead of Democratic Governor Gray Davis in the polls, while conservative Republican candidate William Simon was trailing well behind both.
This presented an all too familiar dilemma for Republican voters: Vote for the candidate who represents your own views in the primaries or vote for the one who has the best chance to win in the general election?
As a result of Governor Gray Davis' all-out campaign of attack ads against Riordan, the former mayor's poll numbers have not only fallen sharply below those of Governor Davis, but are now dead even with those of William Simon. The whole point of this media blitz during the primary election season was to get rid of the front-running Republican candidate, in order to face someone who is thought to be easier to beat in the general election next fall.
At this point, the choice for Republicans is no longer whether to vote for someone who looks like a winner versus someone who actually stands for the things you believe in. Riordan has lost his "winner" status -- and that was all he ever had.
Mushy candidates like Richard Riordan can garner enough votes to become mayor of a liberal city like Los Angeles, without having to energize the conservative Republican voters. But, in a general election for governor, there are more conservative voters out in the valleys than in the coastal cities like Los Angeles. Whether those voters turn out to vote or stay home on election night can be a deciding factor. Mushy liberal candidates don't bring out conservative voters, except to vote against them.
William Simon has run unabashedly as a conservative Republican from the beginning. He can wake up Republican voters in a state where their party has been in the doldrums. As a young fresh face, with credentials outside of politics as a businessman and philanthropist, Simon may have broader appeal as well, especially after Governor Gray Davis' gross mismanagement of the electricity crisis and generally unsavory politics.
When it is no longer a question of winning with Riordan or losing with Simon, Republicans have more to gain with Simon, whether they win or lose in this fall's general election. Even an unlikely Riordan victory would represent no building of a party base with a clear alternative to the Democrats. Riordan has been essentially a Democrat in Republican clothing.
A victory for William Simon in the general election would be a stunning upset that would reverberate across the country and -- perhaps more important to California Republicans -- energize the grass roots and cause some big Republican donors to open up their checkbooks. That means that the party as a whole would rise from the ashes in California and have a future.
Even if William Simon fails to make it this time in his bid for the governorship, he gains name recognition and, if he gives a good account of himself in the election campaign and impresses people that he is genuine -- in an age of phonies -- not only he but the Republican Party as a whole can have a future in the state.
Even people who are not members of either the Democratic or Republican parties stand to gain if California becomes a two-party state again. One-party states tend to become as corrupt as they are complacent. In California, the Democrats have the further down side that they have become the party of irresponsible rhetoric and extremist policies.
Leftist policies that have been tried and failed around the world, and have then been abandoned even by socialists and Communists, are still politically correct in California. Big government is the answer to everything from housing to energy, according to much of the California Democratic party, though even left-wing governments in other countries have discovered the hard way that big government is often the problem, rather than the solution.
Even Californians with no vested interest in the Republican Party have a stake in keeping the Democrats from running amuck. A vote for William Simon can contribute to that goal.
©2002 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
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In Tennessee, we are facing the same situation. A liberal Republican (Jim Henry) vs. the conservative Republican (Van Hilleary). As expected, the country club, big business, don't care about conservative issues RINOs are all behind Henry. Those of us who support Hilleary are painted as Bible thumping, small thinking, uncooth hayseeds. Many of the RINOs say they will vote Democrat if Hilleary wins the nomination.
I am seeing this pattern repeated around the country. The Republican party must think that those of us on the right have no one else to support so they nominated RINOs to capture liberal votes. At sometime, conservatives are going to have to pull out and leave the Republicans as the weak group that they were before Reagan. Sadly, I blame the Bush family for undoing much of the work that Reagan did to further conservative causes.
Amen.
If Simon wins, the GOP elite will go south on us, hoping against a conservative upset of Davis.
A Simon win in November would be a thunderous war-cry against the DIABLAs.
There was this one,
and this one,
and this one...
That should get you started Dr. Sowell. If you really feel like a glutton you can set that ample brain to enthusiastic mental mastication on restoring the environment through private enterprise. Republicans can win on that issue too. <a href="
Go Simon!
I disagree, because Simon has his own money and isn't beholden to the establishment. I think they will jump on board because they don't want to be left in the dust!
Go Simon!
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