Davis, emboldened by polls, starts easing off attack ads

Mercury News ^ | 10/17/02 | Dion Nissenbaum

[NormsRevenge]

SACRAMENTO - After nine months of relentless attack ads aimed at his Republican opponents, Gov. Gray Davis is trying to accentuate the positive as he girds himself for the final three weeks of a caustic re-election campaign.

Internal campaign polls show Davis with a double-digit lead over GOP challenger Bill Simon, so the Democratic governor is preparing to phase out the attack ads and shift entirely to positive commercials by Election Day, Nov. 5.

[NormsRevenge]

Davis began the shift Wednesday by appearing in a new commercial in which he concedes that he is not the most popular politician in California.

``You may not agree with everything I've done, but I'm working hard to do what's best for California,'' says Davis as he speaks directly to the camera.

WE NEED A NEW TEAM IN SACRAMENTO!!! VOTE SIMON NOVEMBER 5th


GO SIMON

***

Tom McClintock for CA State Controller



***

Dick Ackerman for CA Attorney General

[eureka!]

This is the article I mentioned earlier. South is troubled by Grayout's negatives....

[Coop]

Internal campaign polls show Davis with a double-digit lead over GOP challenger Bill Simon, so the Democratic governor is preparing to phase out the attack ads and shift entirely to positive commercials by Election Day, Nov. 5.

Forgive me, but I think I'll take the word of the White House and another senior GOP source who, in two separate articles the past two days, have said Simon is back 3-6 points. Somehow I just find the credibility of Davis and his staff to be just a wee bit lacking. [cough]

During the last three weeks of such an important campaign, the President of the United States would not be considering a CA visit if Simon were down by double digits.

[NEWwoman]

bump and dump Davis

[jdontom]

``We've had a double-digit lead for some time,''

What double digit lead, there has been no poll that I know of after the debate. No one is talking about poll numbers, me thanks the negetive ads gRayout was running against Simon were driving his numbers down.....

[NormsRevenge]

Ping

[eureka!]

Yep. This one is going to the wire...

[Coop]

Davis will be taking his pitch to voters in the coming days as he begins the final chapter of his re-election campaign with a series of events that will take him from Indio to Eureka.

Lucky you! Get out your wallet!!

[concentric circles]

New headline:

Davis, Fearing the Polls, Changes Direction

[NormsRevenge]

Don't Miss a Chance to FReeP Davi$ TODAY in LA! Thursday Oct. 17 @ Noon at
Staples Center - Cityview Terrace - 1111 So Figueroa Street - Los Angeles
DUMP DAVI$ - FIRE Davi$ - FRICASSEE DAVI$ - BURN BABY BURN!!!!




GO SIMON

***

Tom McClintock for CA State Controller
***

Dick Ackerman for CA Attorney General

[SierraWasp]

You, Sir, are exactly RIGHT!!!

This is a good sign for SIMON!!!

Davis fears the 8.0 earth-shift that's coming because in CA politics:

SHIFT HAPPENS!!!

[eureka!]

"New headline: Davis, Fearing the Polls, Changes Direction"

Bingo. The trouble for Grayout is that his unfavorables are not going to change, no matter how many millions he spends...

[SierraWasp]

Anybody that needs encouragement about Simon's chances/trends needs to LEFT CLICK HERE and feel the "Shift Happening!"

It's gonna be 1966 all over AGAIN!!! (yuck, yuck, yuck)

[daviddennis]

Even if his internal polls are showing a double digit lead, I think he's disturbed by the notion that nobody on his side will show up to elect him.

And I think he's right to worry.

You don't change course in midstream - let alone close to the mouth of the river - if you are truly confident of victory.

I have a friend I've been talking to, a middle of the road guy who was originally going to vote for Davis.

I've answered all his arguments with solid facts, similar to the talking points I've shown you folks earlier. They have convinced him that Davis is bad for the state, but they haven't pushed him to embrace Simon.

He says Simon has "too much baggage". I asked him what he meant, and all he could come up with was the photo flap. I explained it to him, and noted this is something that comes up in virtually every campaign, and he agreed with me. But ...

"I'm still not convinced," he said. His basic argument seems to be similar to the LA Times endorsement - we've seen Davis perform, and Simon is an unknown he doesn't trust. I've explained that we can't trust Davis, either, but he still seems more comfortable with the familiar.

No wonder incumbents win.

Anyone have advice on how to counteract this strange tendancy? I think it's Simon's greatest problem with middle of the road voters.

D

[skeeter]

I've been trading emails with the putz who wrote this piece - Nissenbaum. He may not be enamoured with Davis but its clear he utterly despises Simon.

We can be certain that his article conveys exactly what the Davis campaign wants conveyed.

I have no doubt the truth is that the gap between Davis and Simon is closing & Davis is shifting to a new strategy.

[lasereye]

Interpreting this as a sign that his high negatives are endangering his reelection and the negative campaign has failed is as plausible an interpretation of this shift as their spin.

On the other hand it could be interpreted that they really are ahead by double digits but they're worried that while the negative campaign succeeded in moving undecided voters in his direction they can't be relied on to actually vote. They may be afraid of a low turnout, with the Simon voters being more motivated. We'll see which interpretation is right election night.

[Coop]

"we've seen Davis perform, and Simon is an unknown he doesn't trust." Anyone have advice on how to counteract this strange tendancy? I think it's Simon's greatest problem with middle of the road voters.

Play off that issue of trust. Davis is a proven sleazeball who has butchered management of the state. Simon is an unknown who deserves a chance to turn things around. Then give him a link to Simon's website. Or offer to get him some campaign material. Then do it!

And keep up the good work!

[Coop]

They're undoubtedly frightened that their turnout will stink. But, as I said before, I'll take the word of the White House over these sleazeballs any day.

[eureka!]

Thanks for the link to Rough & Tumble. Great site for the news on the race. Thanks again. And yes, Simon is going to surprise many, if we all work hard enough....

[heleny]

White House and another senior GOP source who, in two separate articles the past two days, have said Simon is back 3-6 points. Somehow I just find the credibility of Davis and his staff to be just a wee bit lacking.

Since these polls are private, and since Davis's people are not above lying about other issues, perhaps they're trying to spin the narrowing gap? Since we don't have the actual data, they can say they're leading by triple digits, too! The 3-6% polls were among likely voters. Were the double-digit numbers from a different set?

If he truly had a strong margin, he wouldn't need to start his sudden campaign across the state with x-42 and the loserman. The positive ads are only a different tack, since davis knows his negative ads were a waste of money and the newspapers reported how the ads included false and disproved accusations against Mr. Simon. Fire Davis!