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Republican Reckoning: Bill Simon may be the GOP's last chance to win California
Opinion Journal ^ | 03/20/2002 | John Fund

Posted on 03/19/2002 8:09:34 PM PST by Pokey78

Edited on 04/23/2004 12:04:19 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

Marc Racicot, President Bush's handpicked Republican National Committee chairman, will hold a unity fund-raiser in Sacramento, Calif., today. He's there in a bid to unite the state's squabbling Republicans behind their unexpected candidate for governor, businessman Bill Simon.

The White House is right to fret. The Golden State has one-fifth of the electoral votes needed to become president, and Al Gore bested Mr. Bush there by nearly 12 points. But the White House was clearly embarrassed when its favored candidate, former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan, lost the primary in a landslide to the conservative Mr. Simon.


(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: California
KEYWORDS: calgov2002

1 posted on 03/19/2002 8:09:34 PM PST by Pokey78
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To: *Calgov2002

2 posted on 03/19/2002 8:12:23 PM PST by Libertarianize the GOP
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To: Pokey78
Hey Mr. Parksy, $%&# you! Go join the Demorats as the GOP is SUPPOSED to be the party that has principles supporting life, liberty, smaller government and enabling schmucks like you to remain a venture capitalist.
3 posted on 03/19/2002 8:13:01 PM PST by KantianBurke
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To: KantianBurke
You're correct. If Kali wants democRAT behavior, they'll vote for RATs, not pubbies acting like RATs.
4 posted on 03/19/2002 8:22:50 PM PST by TroutStalker
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To: all
I honestly can't see a true Republican winning Calif. for a very , very long time ... if ever again .
5 posted on 03/19/2002 8:24:11 PM PST by sushiman
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To: Pokey78
Who's this Parsky jerk? A fellow traveller/socialist mole for the dems?
6 posted on 03/19/2002 8:25:57 PM PST by Brett66
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To: sushiman
"He counted on Americans acting weak. He counted wrong"

Greatest Reagan quote and should be the theme of Simon's campaign.

7 posted on 03/19/2002 8:26:12 PM PST by KantianBurke
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To: Pokey78
Here in Northern Californica Simon is now being painted as an anti-gay bigot by such objective newspapers as The SF Chronicle (and they wonder why they keep losing readers).
8 posted on 03/19/2002 8:27:01 PM PST by freebilly
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To: Pokey78
Yeah, Bush get's his wires crossed a lot as he glides down the path of the presidency.
9 posted on 03/19/2002 8:38:46 PM PST by Buckeroo
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To: sushiman
I honestly can't see a true Republican winning Calif. for a very , very long time ... if ever again.

If you wish us to give any credit to your opinion on this race, please link to your correct prediction of the outcome of the primary. If you cannot, it means that either you were mistaken, or not interested and informed enough about the contest to comment.

10 posted on 03/19/2002 8:44:21 PM PST by Lucius Cornelius Sulla
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To: Pokey78
In 1998, conservative Dan Lungren lost by 20 points to Gray Davis after running an inept campaign that focused on crime, an issue of declining interest, while the media highlighted his pro-life views.

John Fund proves himself to be yet another clueless East Coast dimwit by referring to lukewarm Dan Lundgren as a "conservative". Lundgren's squishy campaign inspired the grassroots to sit that election out. He alienated the NRA voters with his approval of Democrat gun bans, he alienated the Pro-life crowd by holding a fundraiser for Christy Todd Whitman, and he bored the rest of the base to death. Yeah, a real conservative lightning rod there.

11 posted on 03/19/2002 9:29:37 PM PST by Pelham
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To: Pelham
Not to go off topic, but I thought Fund got fired from WSJ?
12 posted on 03/19/2002 10:16:28 PM PST by Canticle_of_Deborah
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To: Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Gore won California ...And Feinstein ...And Boxer ...
13 posted on 03/20/2002 12:16:18 AM PST by sushiman
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To: Brett66
Gerry Parsky is a RINO. He increased the clout of the big shot GOP liberal jet set in the party at the expense of the conservative grass-roots. Parsky really has no clue as to what makes the California GOP run. Basically, he and his money bags Republican friends are really Rats in Republican clothing. They favor big government and more socialism, the only thing they don't want is to have more taxes and a more accountable culture imposed upon them. And if you guessed it already, yes Parsky was the fellow who ran the imploding G.W Bush and Dick Riordan campaigns in this state.
14 posted on 03/20/2002 12:25:33 AM PST by goldstategop
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To: sushiman
Gore won California ...And Feinstein ...And Boxer

This is not responsive to my post. I might say that Nixon won California, and Reagan, and Knowland, and Dukmejian and Wilson. Less than a decade ago the GOP won both houses of the state legislature, and there has not been a major shift in demographics in that time.

To remind you, I asked, if we are to take your opinion on California politics seriously, please point to an accurate prediction by you of the results of the primary election.

15 posted on 03/20/2002 2:29:21 AM PST by Lucius Cornelius Sulla
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To: Pokey78
Attention, Department of Redundancy Department:

Re: "would cement California as a state dominated solely by Democrats will be cemented."

This is an example of your usual very good excellent work as always.

16 posted on 03/20/2002 3:53:29 AM PST by Dales
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To: Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Less than a decade ago the GOP won both houses of the state legislature, and there has not been a major shift in demographics in that time.

Would you agree there has been a shift in demographics ? Also , would it be fair to say that the leftist media has had more than a modicum of success in brainwashing the public at large ? What % of under 30 Californians would you say vote Republican ? I haven't the figures but I daresay the % is miniscule . The Cal of Nixon , Reagan , etc ...is long gone I am afraid .

17 posted on 03/20/2002 7:53:50 AM PST by sushiman
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To: Lucius Cornelius Sulla; sushiman
The point Lucius was making is that Republicans can and do win in California. 8 years ago we took the California State Assembly and had a Republican Speaker for the first time in decades.

Historically, Republicans have consistently voted at a higher percentage than Democrats, which equalizes the Democrat registration advantage. However, during the last two election cycles Democrats and Republicans have been voting at the same percentage, which means that Republican turnout is down and Democrat turnout is up at the same time.

We need to reverse this trend. While demographics have changed, they haven't changed so dramatically that Republicans can never win. We must increase our turnout to 1994 percentages. We can do that with a real conservative like Bill Simon who appeals to a cross-section of voters because of his friendly, outgoing, bright personality.

We have the best candidate for Republicans; Davis has many failures he needs to address. If Davis attempts to avoid atoning for his sins, he will lose. If Simon can make this election about Davis and his failures, he will win.

This will be a major battle. We have seven and a half months. We can't let up now, we can't let up in October. The Democrats -- and especially Davis -- will do or say anything to keep power.

18 posted on 03/20/2002 9:55:50 AM PST by Gophack
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To: sushiman
Would you agree there has been a shift in demographics?

I am afraid that I must refrain from communicating with you on this subject until you respond to my original request.

19 posted on 03/20/2002 7:23:33 PM PST by Lucius Cornelius Sulla
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