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The battle will be won or lost in the next 30 days

This is so wrong I don't know where to start. If that were in fact the case, Simon would have lost the primary because he was at 4 points 7 weeks out. Pete Wilson would have lost to Kathleen Brown (like the Field Poll said he would) and Ronald Reagan would have lost to Jimmy Carter, and I can go on and on.

I'm worked as a volunteer and paid staff on dozens of campaigns since 1988 and have found that most voters DO NOT FOCUS on the election until the last FOUR WEEKS. Where Bill Simon is on October 1st -- and where Gray Davis is -- will have more to do with the outcome of the election than almost anything that happens now.

Yes, Simon needs to address Davis' attacks, but he can't be on the defensive. He'll deal with them when and how he wants based on sound political strategy and a hundred armchair politicians telling him a hundred different winning strategies.

"If that were in fact the case, Simon would have lost the primary because he was at 4 points 7 weeks out. Pete Wilson would have lost to Kathleen Brown (like the Field Poll said he would) and Ronald Reagan would have lost to Jimmy Carter, and I can go on and on.

Yes, and let's not forget why Simon won.

A positive message (versus the unattractive negative yowling of Jones and Riordan), great ideas about small government and personal liberty, a nice persona, and a "good attitude". It also helped that he was not a professional politician.

All these helped attract a phalanx of hundreds of energetic activists to his campaign. Meanwhile, the political and voting records of Riordan and Jones came to the attention of the voting public, and they didn't like what they saw: a slippery limousine-socialist poseur and an untrustworthy back-room dealmaker with an indelible tax-hike blemish.

Why are the pundits so loath to admit is that Simon won because the electorate was informed? Giuliani's endorsement helped catch the eye of Mr. and Ms. Six-Pack, but every Simon voter I've met has had solid reasons for their preference. And sometimes that solid reason is just "Gray Davis"!

I agree, Simon and his surrogates can't do enough to step up and forcefully point out Davis' many blunders, spotlighting how the State is going down the tubes. Deficit, budget mess, breathtaking spending runup, infrastructure ills (beginning with but by no means ending with the power crisis), serial scandals leading straight to the Governor's Office... all this is good stuff. But at this moment the campaign is simply not on the radar screens of most folks. Doesn't mean Simon should be sleeping, of course. If the media won't give him face-time and fair coverage, he needs to do more pressing the flesh, meeting with small groups, keeping that activist base energized.

And because it's very important that Bill Simon maintain his positive message and good-natured Reaganesque demeanor against Davis' pissy, pinch-faced attitude and relentless negative attacks, Simon's surrogates--that's us, folks!--should be pounding the newspapers with op-eds and letters to the editors, leafletting their clubs and neighborhood gathering places, and gradually building that slow swell that will become the breaking wave as November approaches.

He's going to win, and it'll be a rout. But don't forget the base, Bill!

based on sound political strategy

Yes remaining silent while your integrity and credibility are attacked day after day makes a great deal of sense. Guess he's counting on the Goebbles backlash.

Yes letting your opponent set the agenda is the key to presenting your ideas. Defense is a long proven, succesful strategy for political victory.

Yes remaining personally unidentifiable is the key to political victory. The electorate always votes for a faceless name.

In short go peddle your naive political loyalty on some other forum. This is not the turnip patch!