Riordan Raising Money to Run as Write-in Candidate

NewsMax ^ | Sept. 16, 2002

[ZGuy]

Former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordon is getting ready to run as a write-in candidate challenging both Governor Gray Davis and his GOP opponent Bill Simon, the man who beat him in the Republican gubernatorial primary.

"My sources tell me that Riordan is actively raising money to run for governor as a write-in candidate,” famed radio host Mike Reagan told NewsMax.com.

Reagan, a NewsMax columnist said that the campaign has generated no excitement.

"Bill Simon is just running a tweedlededum-thweedlededee campaign,” Reagan said. "There’s no excitement in the campaign, and Bill Simon isn’t bringing any excitement to the race. Nobody is talking about the governorship race,” he said, adding that this is bad news for Simon.

"People aren’t exited about Simon and they don’t like Gray Davis and when that happens people just stay with the horse they’re on instead of changing horses.”

And if Riordan does enter the race as a write-in candidate that would be the end for Simon, Reagan said.

[My2Cents]

I think this report is bunk, but if he were to run as a write-in, good! He'll steal votes from Davis.

[gubamyster]

I heard Riordan on Mr. KABC on Thursday night. He never mentioned this & in fact, said he supported Simon.

[dighton]

I think this report is bunk ...

We'll see. The LA Times has hinted at such a thing, and certainly not to help Simon.

[kellynla]

Davis really must be getting nervous. Notice Riordan didn't do anything until the judge reversed the verdict on the lawsuit. Now that Simon has a legitimate chance of winning the election Riordan jumps in. For all you Riordan supporters, now you can see Riordan's true stripes and they aren't Republican! Wonder how much Davis is contributing to the Riordan campaign? Split the vote 3 or 4 ways and the Dimwit gets elected and we can all bend over and kiss out behinds goodbye.

[kellynla]

au contrare...I say Riordan takes the moderate Republican vote.

[Coop]

Awwww, ma-a-a-a-a-n!!!! Another eulogy for Simon's campaign. LOL! How many is this now? 4? 6? I can't even keep count.

Yet every time I turn around Davis is the one in trouble in the polls. :-)

I agree. Folks for Davis or against Simon can feel the momentum shifting, and they're doing their best to stop it.

[doug from upland]

No, he will steal votes from Simon. The RATS will still vote for RATS.

[bayareablues]

Davis' fingerprints are all over this.

[kellynla]

Well it certainly is easy enough to confirm! Hey Dickie boy are you running or not? With the Dimwits and Davis, don't be surprised if this turns out to be the dirtiest campaigns yet before November 5. I still think the Dimwits were behind the drug dealer suing Simon & Sons.

[Coop]

Kinda smells like desperation, doesn't it? :-)

[My2Cents]

What moderate Republican vote? The only people before the primary that wanted Riordan the most were Democrats.

[kellynla]

Time for the Bushies to drop a dime on Riordan and tell him to stay out! That is if the GOP has any designs on winning the election on November 5...

[Coop]

If this story is true, I don't think Riordan would be too worried about what the Bush administration thinks. His embarassing performance in the primary most likely finished his political career, and now he's just out to pee in the punch bowl.

[My2Cents]

To reiterate my previous post, the people I ran into before March who were all aglow about Riordan were mainly Democrats. I think a Riordan write-in campaign would give a lot of Democrats with a conscience a place to go. Granted, there aren't very many Democrats with a conscience, but they could vote for Riordan rather than get into the voting booth, hold their noses, and vote for Davis.

Besides, we have yet to hear from someone cite something other than rumor to confirm Riordan is running as a write-in. Personally, I didn't think he wanted to be Govenor all that badly back in March, which is one reason his primary campaign was so lack-luster. It makes no sense he'd run now. Besides, the time to start such a campaign was like back in April. There's no time left to do anything significant.

[kellynla]

Again I disagree. The Dimwits voted for Simon in the primary because they felt Simon would be a weaker candidate than Riordan. A miscalculation on their part from the current polls anyway which show a statistical dead heat.

[My2Cents]

It's immaterial whether you agree with me or not. This story is rumor. And the reason Simon beat Riordan in the primary is that Riordan convinced Republicans he was unelectable because of his wishy-washy campaign style and position on issues.

[kellynla]

You are right there in Sacramento. Pull up the tally from the primary and see how many registered democrats voted for Simon and how many voted for Riordan?

[eureka!]

If anything, I would think that Riordan has a hard*n for Grayout who spent $10 million to get Simon the nomination--or so said the presstitutes. As to "famed" M. Reagan, I listened to him for a while however concluded he is not as bright as he thinks and is not as influential as he wishes. He grates too. In any event, this race is going to be every bit as interesting as we expected. GoSimonGo........

[The Vast Right Wing]

Riordan aint running.