[InABunkerUnderSF]

As one of the volunteers Mr. Burrola mentioned, let me point out a few other mis-steps our friends(?) from DC made this time round.

1. Putting out the word that giving money to the best qualified Republican candidate for governor, Bill Jones, was a bad idea because Jones had flip flopped (well, just flopped) and supported McCain in the 2000 primary. Jones had to be punished. Jones couldn't raise money. Net result, Jones finished third and the Republican nomination for Governor of California was won by a guy who had never run for public office, had no campaign experience, hadn't voted in a number of recent elections and had given money to Gray Davis' 1998 campaign. Jones was punished alright.

2. Trying to flog Ricky the RINO Riorden off on the voters of California as "our" nominee for Governor. Riorden ran to the left of Gray Davis and Riorden's wife had been a major contributor to Davis' campaign in 1998. Net result, see above. The only good thing about Riorden loosing to Simon was that a lot of us were spared the embarrassment of having to vote for Gray Davis as the more conservative of the two major party candidates.

3. Failure to come through for the down ticket candidates. As near as I can tell from my lowly position, the national party did effectively NOTHING to support Republican candidates for statewide office. No matter what they thought of Simon, or the voters of California for that matter, this was just plain political stupidity. Chopping the down ticket candidates off at the knees in 2002 will come back to haunt Bush in 2004. I live in a district with a 70%-30% Democrat vs. Republican majority. I volunteer every two years to help with the "get out the vote" effort and with registration drives. We know we are going to get slaughtered every election. We get involved because we hope that if we can turn out a few more votes in our precinct we can help make a difference for the Republicans who are running for statewide office. They, if elected, can help out the party with fund raising and organizational support. As of now it doesn't look like there are going to be any statewide Republican office holders in California. If the national party doesn't care, why should we. Look for a decline in grass roots Republican efforts in 2004. Good luck Mr. President.

[xm177e2]

Only problem was, once that wave hit the Sierras it skipped right over California before heading to the Aloha State. But why?

Because the "grassroots conservatives" here decided they didn't like Carl Rove's handpicked, sure-thing candidate (Richard Riordan), they wanted a hard right conservative like Simon. If Californians had listened to Carl Rove, we would have a Republican governor-elect today.

[elenchus]

Forget about looking back; we have an immediate problem of critical importance:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/786126/posts

[Psycho_Bunny]

Stop whining. 

It's not like McDermott is you're congressman.

>:P

[teletech]

I was in California just prior to Nov. 5th and while there I got a chance to see the Davis and Simon ads. First, for every Simon ad there were three or four DAVIS ads. Second, the Simon ad was, to me anyway, annoying. I know it was supposed to make you read but even if you did, all it talked about was who didn't like Davis and NOTHING about the issues in California. BIG MISTAKE!

[ChadGore]

We need Arnold.

[Ditter]

I sure can't figure out CA. We have a cousin out there & he is as squirrely as h*ll. He admits it. Raised a Catholic, married to a Buddist, he claims to be a Sufi. When he explained Sufism to me, it sounded like someone who believes in everything *or* doesn't believe in anything. He doesn't like dims & hates Republicans even more. He wanders around muttering under his breath "its not easy being Green".
So I doubt if he is happy with the outcome either. (It sucks to be him)

[tophat9000]

bump

[John Lenin]

best thing happened. let the RATS take the fall for what they have created here. I'm planning on moving out if it gets as bad as I think it will get.