"The real problem is that Davis has turned off even fellow Democrats, who should be his natural base," said one Democratic consultant.
And if Simon "can find a way to the middle -- or at least not appear to be some sort of scary conservative -- Simon could win this," the consultant added.
That's a pretty big change in opinion from just a couple of months back, when most Demo insiders thought Simon's pro-life, pro-gun, pro-school voucher stands would be the political equivalent of cement shoes.
But then came story after story about Davis' nonstop squeeze for campaign contributions. And the stories about ties between Davis political contributors and the awarding of state contracts -- the recent Oracle software scandal being one case in point.
Now a number of polls are reaffirming what many insiders have known for some time: Davis has a real fight on his hands. A poll by J. Moore Methods of 600 voters, done within the past two weeks, showed Davis at 44 percent and Simon at 43 percent. In other words, too close to call. Other polls by the California Teachers Association, the Simon campaign and even Davis' campaign are finding similar neck-and-neck numbers.
Another thing all the polls agree on is that Davis is in a world of trouble with voters.
The Moore poll, for example, showed a whopping 50 percent giving Davis an "unfavorable" job performance rating.
As one Democrat told us, "In politics, that's usually considered terminal."
Another Democratic consultant added, "I've seen other polls that show an even lower performance rating."
I worked closely with the Simon campaign in the primary and I still am to this day and I will not tolerate anti-Simon bashers to misrepresent the truth about Bill Simon or his campaign. He is a fine man and is running a good campaign and he doesn't need Gerald Parsky or anyone else with an axe to grind to take him out as part of some ideological or personal revenge.