Yes, I think Simon will keep it close, which makes me even more angry because Riordan would have blown Davis out of the water. The fact that a conservative like Simon can keep it close in CA is proof of how weak Davis is.
What good are those if one can attract neither liberals nor conservatives? Riordan held extreme views on abortion, homosexuality, gun confiscation, taxation, socialism, etc. which would alienate conservatives and hurt the rest of the Republican candidates for other offices. Liberals will still line up behind Davis.
Riordan would have blown Davis out of the water
That may be false. He could not even get 1/3 of the Republican plus most of the decline-to-state voters in March, and at the time polled about the same against Davis as Simon vs. Davis. Riordan ruined his own campaign months ago, would not have been able to run a competent campaign to recover, and would be unable to differentiate himself from Davis.
Why don't you support Simon, the real candidate in the upcoming election? The point of having a primary election is to consolidate support behind one candidate from each party. Simon won by a landslide, and Riordan graciously declared his support for Simon.
Simon has the right views on most issues, including education, taxes and the economy, and quality of life, and basic rights. Can you agree with at least one of those issues?
Your analysis may be right. But as a California conservative I had this problem with Riordan: I couldn't find any significant differences between him and a liberal Democrat. What advantage is gained by electing a liberal Rat who calls himself a 'Republican?'
Riordan could probably have won because (like all RINOs) he's run the cynical numbers: Davis is unpopular among liberals and Riordan could have played into that discontent because he's liberal himself. He would also have run well with the Great Mushy Middle (mostly liberal at heart even though they may call themselves Republicans) as well as the gays, the unions, etc. As Mayor of L.A., Riordan never met a liberal cause he didn't like, support, and whose parade he didn't march in.
Simon on the other hand is green, naive, not a natural politician. He lacks the cynicism of and contempt for average voters -- qualities that make liberals and RINOs such successful politicians.
Liberals don't think of voters as real people but as issues to be pandered to. It's easier to promise to give away triple-decker ice cream cones than to caution people that eating them may lead to obesity, diabetes, etc. That's the classic liberal vs. conservative dilemma, not just in CA but nationwide. The liberals dish out their triple-deckers in however many multicultural colors and flavors it takes to win. Conservatives, being realists, merely sputter and tut-tut and say maybe that's not such a good idea.
I will continue to support Simon financially and otherwise. But I do so with the knowledge that Davis's never-ending filth machine coupled with corrupt media and corrupt greedy voters will probably grind him into the dirt. When that depresses me I ask whether Riordan would have been a better choice. That depresses me too.
The only silver lining I can find in any of this is that maybe, somehow, after a second disastrous Davis term the idiot voters may figure out cause-effect. But I doubt it. If they can't figure it out after his first term they probably never will. And we'll all be speaking Spanish by that time anyhow.