It was in 1812 Governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts redistricted the state so that one congressional district was in the shape of a salamander. The press called the district a Gerrymander district. That technique had been used by both parties to cause election outcomes that thwart the voters will.
It is the nature of political candidates to invent techniqes to give them an unfair advantage. Gray Davis and his gang have invented a new one. In this technique the Democrats spend millions in the Repubican primary to select a Republican they can defeat. It worked perfectly and gave Davis the desired result. The fact that so many Republicans fell for it and were even happy that the Democrats had done it, will ensure it will be used many times in the future.
One has to admit it is a very effective tool to elect unelectable Democrats. We will see it hundreds of times more in the future, if it is not stopped cold every time it is tried.
It was very imporant that future (can't win Repubican candidates) understand the consequences of their candidacy. They must learn that being the patsy for the Democrats is of no value to them. Most likely such certain losers will have to be prevented from becoming candidates in the primary. There is no way that Republicans can let Democrats use advertising and effective negative campaign to select a disasterous Repubican nominee. The Repubican party would cease to exist.
Once the Davis gambit had worked to select our nominee, Bush and the RNC had to make a decision as to what to do. One option was to make Simon into a candidate that could win. Simon rejected all such offers. He was going to do his disasterous attack Davis campaign no matter what. The only other option was to ignore this race and try to fix it so no future Gray Davis can ever get this done again.
It is likely the entire state of California will be in the firm hands of the Democrats. That is the result of this brilliant Davis strategy. It has elected the unelectable and that is brilliant.
If candidates clearly understand that the only winners of such a gambit are the Democrats, perhaps future Republcans will not be so selfish and stupid as to let Democrats do it to them. But means will have to be created to foil future hopefuls from participating in a publicity seeking death wish. Lots of people are working on that right now.