Primary defied handicapping, but did it produce immutable trends?

Sacramento Bee ^ | Friday, March 8, 2002 | Dan Walters

[Dog Gone]

The unusual, even unique, dynamics, of this week's primary election made it particularly difficult to handicap.

The state's first-ever March primary in a nonpresidential year, the prospect of a record-low voter turnout, an unprecedented assault by Democratic Gov. Gray Davis on Republican contender Richard Riordan, a legislative redistricting scheme aimed at preserving the partisan status quo and new campaign finance rules that encouraged so-called "independent expenditures" by special interest groups were among the unusual aspects.

[TheDon]

I'm thinking the Davis campaign is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

[Redbob]

I'm thinking Davis got "only" 81% because the only people highly-motivated to vote were his opponents' supporters; other Dims knew he was going to win it, and took the day off.

[Free the USA]

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[goldstategop]

Two of the four Republican assemblymen who broke ranks last summer and voted for a Democrat-written state budget faced GOP voters for the first time in bids for higher office. Both of them, Dick Dickerson of Redding and Mike Briggs of Fresno, were rejected as rivals dwelled on their budget votes.

Dick Dickerson and Mike Briggs got their just desserts for voting for Gray Davis' tax increases last year. Republican voters have had enough of RINOs who vote like Rats. It shouldn't be too much to ask the party to support reducing state spending and cutting taxes. Otherwise, what's the point of sending them to Sacramento? Its just too bad that thanks to this Rat written incumbent protection plan, its hopeless to gain a conservative majority in the State Legislature for 10 more years.