A California GOP Renaissance?

California Political Review ^ | March 11, 2002 | Senator Ray Haynes

[ElkGroveDan]

Another right-on commentary on this race and California's future.

[ElkGroveDan]

PING

[Argus]

Encouraging analysis. I hope he's right, especially about the Repub-Dem voting disparity in November. It's not enough that every Republican and conservative come out to vote. It's also vital that as many Demon libs as possible stay home.

[Gophack]

This is good, but we can not become complacent. We need to work twice as hard now as we did in the primary. The Democrats historically have low turnout in the primaries and higher turnout in the general election. However, until recently Republicans always voted in a higher percentage than Democrats ... that's how we took control of the Legislature in 1994, and consistently elected Republican governors until Gray Davis.

Democrats have done a better GOTV effort in the past 4-6 years, and have turned out higher than Republicans. That can not last, otherwise we WILL lose. This means that Freepers ... conservatives, Christians, activists ... need to get out there are start working NOW for our victory in November. Simon's success in the primary was due in large part to word-of-mouth grassroots politics. We need to keep this up.

[tubebender]

Riordan then lashed back at Davis, insisting he was indeed absolutely ?pro-choice,? and that Republicans ought to be ashamed for being pro-life. That is what lost the election for Riordan, not the Davis commercials. Everything Davis did to try to rehabilitate Riordan in Republican voters? minds was reversed by Riordan?s preachy, country-clubbish attitude towards the Republican little people.

Interesting comment ? Remember, Simon plus Jones vote equal almost 70% to RHINOdans 30%.

[dalereed]

After Riordan askes the RINOs that voted for him to back Simon I hope he crawls back into the woodwork and keeps his mouth shut. He's a total liability.

[dalereed]

askes=asks

I should start reading the preview!

[TheAngryClam]

Right on commentary. I'm going to make sure to save the names of everyone that tells me this is a liberal state for after our big wins. Then they'll blame it on Davis. After 2006, it will be too hard for them to deny.

[Vis Numar]

Sure, if voting %'s stays in the low 30%, then the GOP will win some races in CA. This was a worse turnout than '94, in fact pathetic turnout for the statewide races. That's why he sees the numbers he does.

[hattend]

BTTT

[ElkGroveDan]

Well we could debate specifics here, but if you are comparing this year to 1994, then I'll take that result any day.

[uncbob]

Unless Simon can attract a hell of a lot of so called independents it is going to be rough sledding. I just wonder how much support the RINOs in the GOP are going to give him

[uncbob]

I'm going to make sure to save the names of everyone that tells me this is a liberal state for after our big wins

Al Gore might think so

[Michael.SF.]

"Republicans received more Primary votes than Democrats in the governor’s, lieutenant governor’s, and controller’s races, coming within 100,000 votes in the rest of the races. This should worry Democrats. With more people willing to vote for Republicans, the general election could be much closer than anyone predicts."

As a California resident, I do hope this guy is right. But there is one big factor that is overlooked in the above:

Davis was virtually unoppossed for the Demo bid. The republicans had a valid reason for voting: three choices. Thus there was incentive for Republicans to vote.

I hesitatingly voted for Riordin, for reasons unrelated to Simon, and I will have no problem voting for Simon. I believe he will have a great chance to win especially since davis has made such an idiot out of himself!

[Antoninus]

I just wonder how much support the RINOs in the GOP are going to give him.

Those of us out-of-staters aren't going to let the California RINOs do to Simon what the NJ RINOs did to Schundler. If they give you guys any trouble, make sure you broadcast it here so we can give them a little fax/email barrage. We need a full-court press on this one.

[Bernard Marx]

I hate to be negative, but the media (at least locally) are doing their utmost to smear Simon already. They are utterly disgraceful, using every dirty form of inuendo and misdirection available. Example:

This past Sunday there was a long Page One feature in the Ventura Star (and its satellite papers around the county) carrying on about pedophilia among priests in the Catholic church. There is a local angle since the Seminary in Camarillo has been identified as a place where some priests had weekend retreats to recruit young boys. The story was fairly well handled despite the dicey subject matter. Still, it was sensational and was implicitly a smear on Catholics and their church.

Was it mere coincidence that a couple of pages into the A-Section there was a major AP story about Simon and his generous contributions to Catholic causes? The story, with 2-column photograph, ran 45 column inches including a sidebar graph detailing his contribution history.

What made this particular piece so utterly biased and is that the first four emotionally-charged paragraphs focused on Simon and his charitable foundation's gifts to Catholic causes, and in the 5th graph the writer Jim Wasserman, out of the Sacramento AP bureau, got around to saying:

"Simon, who pulled off a stunning come-from-behind victory in Tuesday's primary, now faces Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat whose Catholic religious affiliation is largely unknown publicly." Wasserman goes on: "Davis, who is seldom photographed in church and makes almost no public references to his religion, easily defeated the Republican Party's last conservative Catholic nominee, Attorney General Dan Lungren, in 1998." And that's all Wasserman has to say about Davis.

Were I writing the piece I'd find this the logical place to point out that Davis is pro-abortion despite his Church's stand on the issue, and is thereby a complete hypocrite. Davis slammed Riordan with a $10 million TV ad campaign implying that the ex-L.A. Mayor was likely to work toward outlawing abortion in California -- another lie because Riordan is as pro-abortion as Davis. Instead, Wasserman went on to imply that Simon was going to let his Church -- pedophiles and all -- dominate his actions if elected governor.

The fact the anti-Simon media campaign has geared up this early is a good sign: they think he has a strong chance. But we're in for month after month of shameless propaganda and innuendo from the state's socialist media, especially from the AP. While the paper offers a chance to email staff writers, there's never the same option for AP-sourced stories. Can you Sacramento Freepers help out? I think AP ought to hear some of our thoughts about them.

[airborne]

For the life of me, I will never understand the phrase "pro-choice". If there is a mother, a father and an unborn child, and only the womans' wishes are considered, why not call it "pro-woman"? I guess I'm too old-fashioned.

[Gophack]

Those of us out-of-staters aren't going to let the California RINOs do to Simon what the NJ RINOs did to Schundler. If they give you guys any trouble, make sure you broadcast it here so we can give them a little fax/email barrage. We need a full-court press on this one.

Glad to have friends like you outside of our golden state! Thank you for your support ... conservatives around the country need to be united against liberals of all stripes, Republican OR Democrat.

[be131]

Davis is pro-abortion despite his Church's stand on the issue, and is thereby a complete hypocrite.

..and that Simon is pro-death penalty despite his Church's stand on the issue, and thereby a complete hypocrite??

[Holden Magroin]

Two words: Brett Schundler.

Conservatives are geting a little carried away.