Playing California hardball on TV

SF Chronicle ^ | 3-10-02 | Chrissy Matthews

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Thirty years ago, California taught America how to campaign on TV. The election of young, handsome John Tunney to the U.S. Senate even inspired a movie, "The Candidate," starring Robert Redford.

On Tuesday, a California campaign again showed the ferocious firepower of TV advertising. An endangered governor, Gray Davis, used it to kill his most feared Republican challenger in the guy's political crib.

[Twodees]

Of course. It's an irrefutable fact that Red Davis defeated Red Riordan with the brilliant use of $10million advertising dollars. Opposition from conservatives to Riordan's candidacy had nothing to do with Riordan's defeat. Nothing. Zip. Zilch.

Red Davis's ads sound more like a desperate bid to get California conservatives to support Riordan so that Davis could win the upcoming election. Little ol' Chrissy is an idiot who thinks that all the readers of this article are as dumb as she is.

[Gladwin]

It's not a bad thing that California has the choice between a real Republican and a real Democrat. Simon may lose, but that doesn't mean that Riordan would have won.

[Valin]

An endangered governor, Gray Davis, used it to kill his most feared Republican challenger in the guy's political crib.

Be careful what you wish for....you just might get it.

[goldstategop]

Yep. He didn't even carry a majority of the votes in his own home county! The Rats have squashed RINOs like road kill before...

[Twodees]

As an outsider to California politics, my view is that Riordan would have been a soft pitch to Davis. He wouldn't have had a prayer. Simon may very well win if the republicans can watch the vote counts very carefully. Riordan was a made to order loser for Davis. Any republican politicians who were endorsing Riordan would be very suspect to me if I were a Californian.

[Dog Gone]

By destroying moderate Riordan, Democrats now face a conservative, anti-abortion Republican, Bill Simon Jr., in a centrist, pro-choice state.

Never mind that a Governor has no control over abortion rights. The Chronicle just wanted to make sure that its readers consider Simon a threat.

[boris]

Ramirez (I think) had a brilliant cartoon portraying Davis & Riordan as prize fighters. All of Davis' lumps were self-imposed. I can't find it on the net (too new?) but here's another goodie:

[Navy Patriot]

Matthews overlooks something here. He assumes that DemoRat and Repub party members operate in exactly the same way, that they will vote for the party candidate that has the best chance of winning disregarding position, ethics, morality, patriotism, and criminal acts. I think most Repubs consider these criteria substancially when they make their choice.

Simon generally does reflect the values of the Republican party, and Davis is a genuine DemoRat, so each party got what they stand for.