Posted on 08/21/2002 7:38:39 PM PDT by kellynla
Tomorrow (Thursday, August 22) in Los Angeles Bill Simon will be joined by America's Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, for a public appearance.
Please join us, bring your Bill Simon signs, wear your Bill Simon colors, buttons, and t-shirts. And don't forget to email your friends about it!
Time: 9:45am Location: Sheriff Substation 5019 E. 3rd St. Los Angeles, CA 90022-1632
Come out and show your support!
Yes, you do!
I agree! I think Davis is a dead duck ... GO SIMON!
Democrats have just under 45% and Republicans have just over 35% (about a 10 pt split). It's 6.8 million Dems to 5.3 million Reps ... nowhere near 2-1. It's not even 3-to-2, more like 4-to-3.
Don't expect it to last ... the media knows that Simon is a threat to Davis, and they would rather have a corrupt liberal than an honest conservative.
Go Simon!!!!!!
Me neither. Good on Rudy. Holding it at a Sheriff's substation too. Not a bad spot, considering crime is up in California...
Here's my opinion on this matter. While I'm not an expert, I have run several local campaigns and am actively involved in grassroots and professional politics. More important, I'm a conservative and I don't believe we need to compromise our principles to win. I say that because some of my liberal Republican friends will disagree with what I have to say.
Republicans have done poorly for the last few years for three primary reasons: Democrats have a lot more money; Republicans have not identified who their new base is; and Republicans have not learned how to effectively communicate with our new electorate.
1) Money. While Republicans have historically been able to win with less because of our strong grassroots organization, we no longer have a strong grassroots organization and therefore the money the Democrats have is more important now than in the past.
2) Republicans have failed to identify that we have a new base of voters. Our base includes the hardcore conservative Republicans who will vote Republican or not at all. The key point here is: in 1998, they voted not at all. They stayed home. In 2000 in the primary, conservatives came to the polls in droves, but by the general were disgusted with a variety of things and just didn't show up. Karl Rove, who I don't particularly care for, did make an excellent point: Christians stayed home in 2000 and almost cost GWB the election.
Our new base of voters includes our conservative base -- which we must secure early with a right of center candidate with a strong moral character. I believe that Bill Simon has done that. The second part of our new base is the working families of all races, primarily blue collar workers who are concerned about their high taxes, but still want safe streets; they may be pro-life or not, but they don't want their daughters being taught how to put a condom on a cucumber. They are church-goers, but more so now than two years ago. They are not the rich, the elite, the post-graduates. They move from the city to the suburbs so their kids are safer and they have a backyard and some trees. They don't always vote, but will if they have someone to vote for, or get mad enough. Unfortunately, the Republicans still think that we're the party of big business and the rich. Well, big business and the rich are giving their money to DEMOCRATS!!!!!
3) Communication. Republicans have not learned how to communicate with the 21st century voter. We have the right ideas and the right principles -- ideas and principles that families agree with. But we talk hard facts and figures, statistics and logics, when people need value-driven words. We talk over people's heads. This isn't to say that people are stupid (though some of them are); the problem is that we don't use their language to communicate. We talk about the "Gross National Product" rather than how taxes impact their specific family. We need to use the values and images and messages that people are receptive to, and modify the communication tool based on where in the state we're communicating. The Central Valley has different priorities than Orange County. There is no "one-size-fits-all" medium or message; we need to re-learn local politics.
As an aside, when we learn to effectively communicate, our grassroots will start to grow. Effective communication is the best fertilizer.
Anyway, that's why I think Republicans have fared poorly of late. But don't forget -- the media and the RINOs would have you believe that California is a liberal state and unless the Republicans become liberal, we'll continue to lose. That is just false, but if people hear it enough they'll believe it. The fact is unless the last FOUR years of Gray Davis, we had SIXTEEN years of Republican Governors; in 1994 the State Assembly had a majority Republican. In 1992 we had 32 Republican Assemblymembers; 1994 41; 1996 37; 1998 32 and 2000 30. We won and lost. We won in 1994 because Newt Gingrich had a message that people understood and appreciated, and they voted. In 1996, three of the seats we lost, we lost by 86, 191, and 1800 votes respectively. Essentially, we lost the majority in the state assembly by 2,000 votes.
We can win and we can lose. If we work hard, change our message (but NOT our principles), we will win. If we don't -- well, say hello to Governor Davis.
This just isn't true. In the most recent statewide (98) dems won Gov, Lt. Gov, Treas., Controller, and AG while the Reps won Insurance Comm, & Sec State. That's 5-2 for the Dems. In the previous statewide, (94) Republicans won ALL the state wide offices except Controller. That's 6-1 for the Reps. So speaking of the Dems "routinely" winning nearly all state wide is a bit of an exaggeration.
Simon has not run a great campaign but he is not toast unless all those who know better quit.
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