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California and the GOP
Washington Times ^ | December 3, 2001 | Paul M. Weyrich

Posted on 12/03/2001 8:33:48 AM PST by ElkGroveDan

Edited on 07/12/2004 3:36:17 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

This November's election results brought discouraging news for Republicans and conservatives. Even with President Bush's unprecedented public support, Republicans managed to lose the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey. The outlook for next year is pretty dicey given the usual jinx in mid-term elections on the party holding the White House. But there is a bright spot on the horizon. Republicans and movement conservatives throughout the nation should be watching a state they have ignored in recent years

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


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections
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Weyrich is one of the sharpest minds in the conservative movement today. He makes a great case for us all to get out there and support Simon.

Finally, there is a reason for conservatives to get excited again. I'm glad I live in California. This is going to be a GREAT campaign. Simon For Governor!

1 posted on 12/03/2001 8:33:48 AM PST by ElkGroveDan
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To: ElkGroveDan
Wow! Great article. I have always liked Weyrich. He's been a solid conservative up and down ... and I can trust what he says about Bill Simon! It's so nice to have a REAL conservative who knows what he's talking about running for a statewide race! We actually have a chance! Yeah!
2 posted on 12/03/2001 8:54:02 AM PST by Gophack
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To: ElkGroveDan
Mr. Simon has that quality that is very rare and valued in a conservative candidate. He has a moral framework but can explain himself in such a reassuring manner that he does not frighten potential supporters as some less articulate conservatives have done. His ability to discuss issues is so down-to-earth that even casual voters can readily grasp what he is discussing.

This says it all ... this is why Simon can and will win with God's blessing and the help of all conservatives starting today. We can't sit back and do nothing ... it reminds me of a poem I read a long time ago, but I don't remember who wrote it ...

I am only one.
But I am one.
I can not do everything.
But I can do something.
And because I can not do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.

Every conservative, every gun owner, every pro-lifer, every small businessperson, every Christian, every mother, every father, needs to do one thing: Vote for Bill Simon and tell convince two people to vote for Bill Simon. That is the SOMETHING that everyone can do.

3 posted on 12/03/2001 8:57:49 AM PST by Gophack
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To: Gophack
Call me irresponsible and call me a loon, but I think that Simon could actually win.

How and ever, Riordan comes from RINO hell and will give only tepid support to Simon.

It can be done, but it will take a lot of campaigning from a newly popular GW Bush to put him over the top.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

4 posted on 12/03/2001 9:06:29 AM PST by section9
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To: ElkGroveDan
I am registered as "declined to state" here in CA and until someone can tell me the diff between the parties, I will not vote for either party. For example, the senate and house voted overwhelmingly for what I call a GESTAPO Law even though they didn't have a chance to read the law because it wasn't even printed at the time of the vote!

For your info, I went door to door to register repubs back in 1964 and registerd new 55 voters for Goldwater. Except for Prez Reagan, we do not have true conservatives running in the repub party.

Did you notice we gave the elections to clinton by running a tired old man against him in 1992 and then again, we ran ANOTHER tired old man against him.

Bottom line, we really have no say in elections because the power brokers and the families who seemingly have a birthright to "lead us" put the candidates for us to choose.
If you noticed, they don't allow third party candidates to join in the debates. I know, I know, some of the third party candidates are morons, but, by allowing them into the debates they can be exposed for what they are.

The repubs accomplish the same thing as the dems only they do it a slower basis by putting us to sleep, so to speak.
Flame away.

5 posted on 12/03/2001 9:14:18 AM PST by poet
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To: poet
I agree 100%. There will be no discussion of this because many would then have to rethink their indoctrinated positions.
6 posted on 12/03/2001 9:24:02 AM PST by Digger
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To: poet
You are in luck my friend. Bill Simon is the next Ronald Reagan. He has nearly identical issue positions, he is a warm and personable guy, people take to him like velcro when they meet him. He is a man of uncompromising principle and strong moral character.

I'm sorry you've been let down by some Republican capitulators over the years. So have I. But I've stuck around to fight for the heart and soul of the Republican Party. Bill Simon as governor and as the titular head of the Republican Party in California is the kind of guy who put us will back on the path to the party of Reagan and Goldwater.

You are welcome back. Let's stand shoulder-to-shoulder and reclaim the party of small government and of individual rights. I'll go knocking on doors anywhere in the state and help you register Reps. We can rebuild. We've done it before. The clouds are breaking and I can see a ray of sunshine illuminating the gloomy world of freedom loving people in California -- his name is Bill Simon.

7 posted on 12/03/2001 9:28:25 AM PST by ElkGroveDan
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To: ElkGroveDan
Great article that lays out the case for Simon as the best thing for conservatives and the GOP -- despite a lot of stupidity by our leaders. Fortunately, Paul Weyrich knows what leadership is and never wavers from it.

It is a shame that the liberal newpapers in California would never print something like this. It is going to depend on conservatives doing it door-to-door (hardwood door or electronic door as the case may be).

So get busy!

8 posted on 12/03/2001 9:34:28 AM PST by RWGuy
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To: ElkGroveDan
Boy, I haven't been around for awhile (it's hard to have any time on-line with four kids and Christmas coming up!) and I'm glad to see that everything I heard about Bill Simon is true.

My neighbor told me about him a couple months ago, and I liked what I heard, and as I've been catching up on reading this morning I've realized Bill Simon actually has a chance to win!

I am so frustrated by liberals --- Republicans and Democrats --- that sometimes I think I should just leave California and move to Wyoming or Montana or someplace like that (but I don't like the snow). Why can't the Republicans realize that if they put up someone like Riordan that we just won't vote? I won't vote for Riordan. Why should I? So he can raise my taxes like Davis? So he can use my tax money to kill innocent babies by ripping them from their mother's wombs? So he can throw more of my money into the failed education system? So he can throw my husband out of business with more taxes and regulations? So he can let gays marry and adopt innocent children? No thank you!

Richard Riordan will never get my vote because he is just like Gray Davis. He's no better, and sounds even more liberal on issues like the death penalty and education.

I am sick and tired of people telling my how to keep my children safe, what color I can paint my house, that sex education is great and wonderful and I'm naive if I think my kids aren't going to have sex in high school, talking about homosexuals and gay marriage and condoms is mandatory, but God is a no-no. A liberal is a liberal is a liberal, whether they are a Republican like Riordan or a Democrat like Davis.

Wow! Sorry for the length of the post, but I just had to get that off my chest!

I can put my trust in someone like Bill Simon. Right now, I like him a lot and everything I heard is positive (pro-life, pro-gun, cutting taxes, fixing roads, bringing God back into public discourse) ... and I know I can support him. I wish I had more time to volunteer! I like what that one guy said on this board about convincing two people to vote for Simon. I'm going to make a list of ten people and email or write them every week until the election and tell them all about Simon and why they should vote for him ... and then call them on election day so they don't forget!

9 posted on 12/03/2001 9:42:29 AM PST by IrishMom
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To: section9
Have you noticed that Prez Bush is so enamored keeping the dems happy that he is not electioneering for repubs? Can you say Virginia and if I may paraphrase: No Virginia, there really is no conservative republican party!
10 posted on 12/03/2001 9:44:26 AM PST by poet
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To: ElkGroveDan
Dan, thanks for your great reply to me, however, when the repub senate let the traitor off the hook in the farce impeachment "trial", they lost me forever.
Those fbi files must be loaded with scandals.
11 posted on 12/03/2001 9:49:38 AM PST by poet
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To: RWGuy
It is a shame that the liberal newpapers in California would never print something like this. It is going to depend on conservatives doing it door-to-door (hardwood door or electronic door as the case may be).

Sadly, you're right. But we can do it. The conservatives are a powerful force, and with the mood the country is in right now, actually talking about God and prayer, supporting our President, being interested in foreign policy and security and the economy, I think that Republicans have a shot ... even here in liberal California.

But we won't win if we nominate some liberal like Riordan. We need an articulate, reasoned conservative like Bill Simon, someone who is with us 110% AND knows how to communicate without ticking off the more moderate voters. I'm not so naive to think that we can win with out conservative voters, but like Reagan, Simon can bring lots of different people into his camp because he's trustworthy and means what he says, and you know where he stands.

12 posted on 12/03/2001 9:50:51 AM PST by Gophack
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To: ElkGroveDan
What makes Mr. Simon's candidacy so attractive is that, put him in the governor's mansion, and it is highly likely that he will become a national leader of the conservative movement overnight.

That would be great -- we need a movement conservative to lead our state ... and our party.

13 posted on 12/03/2001 9:52:59 AM PST by Gophack
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To: poet
Stop blaming Bush for Earley's bad campaign. I agree with Charlie Cook's assessment (and the fact that the NRA's tepid and late support for his candidacy was significant):

Similarly, Republican Mark Earley in Virginia started off well behind Democrat Mark Warner on several levels. Most apparent is the fact that Warner quickly changed his focus following his 1996 Senate defeat, turning his attention to the 2001 gubernatorial race even while he helped other Democrats prepare for the 1997 contest.

His business interests gave him a perfect entrée to travel around the state as he developed his regional investment funds with local business leaders and talked economic development. By the summer of 2000 he had a professional campaign staff in place and there was never any question, given the party's thinning statewide bench, that he'd have a primary challenge. Instead, by late spring he was on the airwaves across the state establishing his image as the successful businessman who knew the state's problems and needs, and followed that up with months of summer advertising that portrayed him as a non-traditional type of Democrat.

In contrast, Earley only came to the race this year and his supporters spent the spring months trying to lure Lt. Gov. John Hager out of a challenge for the nomination. When Hager refused, Earley out-maneuvered him at the state convention but emerged in need of cash and having alienated the Hager wing of the party, which also happened to include much of the donor wing of the state GOP.

By late summer Earley was trailing in the polls and party insiders were already grumbling that the candidate had yet to settle on a definitive message or develop an identity with voters. While they hoped the Earley camp would turn things around post-Labor Day, the September 11 attack threw the race into a state of suspended animation. When it re-emerged, it did so with an awkward television spot showing the attorney general in the company of such Virginia GOP stalwarts as Senators George Allen and John Warner as well as Gov. Jim Gilmore. But the message did little more than to suggest that Earley's was only a legacy campaign – he was next in line to carry on the tradition of his forebears. And given Gilmore's budget debacle this summer with the GOP-controlled state legislature – an issue exploited by Warner – the legacy issue was less than effective.

Instead, by early October, after the injection of some national party heavy-hitters into the Earley camp, the decision was made to center their last ditch attack on Warner by portraying him as a liberal tax and spend Democrat unsuitable for the state. A tried and true gambit that had worked for other Republicans in other statewide races here, it fell flat on its face mostly due to the fact that voters did not believe it - Warner having already strongly defined his fiscal conservative image after many months of advertising.

Looking back on the race one veteran Virginia political observer hangs the Earley loss on the candidate's failure to focus on one salient message that could entice voters to cast their lot with him. What did he run on? When you look back at George Allen, Jim Gilmore, even Doug Wilder, you remember what those campaigns were about. When you look back on the Earley campaign you'll see a void, he noted.


14 posted on 12/03/2001 9:57:14 AM PST by GraniteStateConservative
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To: poet
If you look at which ones baled on impeachment, it was the East Coast country club liberals like Jeffords and Snowe etc. -- people like Riordan.

The true-blue Reps. hung in there, we just need more of them. That's why I get out and volunteer, even when I don't have the time. I'm proud to say that I walked precincts around Glendale and Burbank for Jim Rogan when he first ran for Assembly. Seeing him up there fighting the good fight on the floor of the Senate made it all worthwhile for me!

15 posted on 12/03/2001 9:58:59 AM PST by ElkGroveDan
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To: ElkGroveDan
I'll stick with Bill Jones, thank you. Bill Jones is the GOP's highest elected official in CA and he is a CONSERVATIVE who has paid his dues. My gripes about Simon: (1) A johnny-come-lately who happens to be rich; (2) It's embarrassing the way conservative Republicans are kissing his butt; (3) Simon gave some money to "GAY" DAVIS for governor last gubernatorial campaign cycle. Need I say more? For victory & freedom!!!
16 posted on 12/03/2001 9:59:03 AM PST by Saundra Duffy
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To: Gophack
By all that is good and right Simon should be the next governor of California, but even if he does win the GOP primary I worry that the liberal wing in the California Republican Party will "schundler" him and leave him high and dry. Let's face it, the GOP in California is so marginalized, that in order to even have a chance to win there HAS to be complete and full support within the party. And I doubt the Riordanites in the GOP will give it to him.
17 posted on 12/03/2001 9:59:29 AM PST by SpringheelJack
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To: ElkGroveDan
I'm pulling for Simon, that's for sure. He's THE LAST chance in California.

I also would REFUSE to vote for Riordan, who has called for a handgun BAN. Not even Davis goes that far. If Riordan was the nominee, I'd vote....for DAVIS.

18 posted on 12/03/2001 10:01:06 AM PST by Dan from Michigan
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To: ElkGroveDan
Simon for Governor BUMP!

Elk Grove Homeschool Mama (nice to meet you, neighbor!)

19 posted on 12/03/2001 10:02:01 AM PST by homeschool mama
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To: SpringheelJack
Well, that is the big concern. However, I think that Bush and Rove will be able to handle it this time.

Their people are in charge of the CA GOP, and as such, there's a lot less capability for RINOs to cause problems.

20 posted on 12/03/2001 10:13:07 AM PST by hchutch
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