Simon was asked not to run by the Bush people. They were aware what Davis would likely do to insure Simon won the primary and Davis won the general. Simon didn't care. He just wanted to win the primary.
Their is no problem with going against a president and the party to run for office. Lots of people have done it. But rule #1 is such a candidate will have to raise his own money. When the party leadership says don't run and a candidate does, that means the candidate doesn't get any money from the party. Always has... Always will. Because no party will reward someone who goes against party wishes. That falls into the DUHHHHHH !!!! category. You would have to be a very VERY Simple Simon not to understand that simple fact.
Simon KNEW when he stayed in the primary race that if he won the primary he was on his own.
Davis is a very weak Democrat that is still leading Simon by over 10 points. A party will not give money to a candidate that is 10 points down. I posted several weeks ago that if Simon did not stay close he would get zero money from the state and national party.
The foolish people are all surprised. But candidates get no money when they are double digits behind. Is the way it works. That is true in this case. It is always true in every case. Parties are like businesses. They never throw good money after bad, if they can avoid it. At this point investing money in Simon looks like a loser. It is up to Simon to get within striking distance. Both parties figure it this way, a candidate that can't raise money, will not be able to govern.
Simon is doing very poorly at raising money. He is way short. He has a problem because no one that has more than 10 bucks in their pocket believes he can win. No one believes that if Simon were given unlimited money he could win. So Simon is looking to winners to raise money for the loser. Here is a clue...... Winners don't get to be winners by raising money for losers. IT DOES NOT HAPPEN.
A candiate that goes against party wishes is on his own. He can garner party acceptance only if he looks like he can win. It is up to the rebel to get from "sure loser" to the "can win" category.
Looking for your party, other candidates, or other elected officials to do it for you is a giant waste of time.
All candidates should be clear on that point before they file their paperwork.
Parsky's job is to get the GOP elected in California. If Bush is telling him to back off, he needs to tell him NO.
Parsky's job isn't to be a Bush yesman. His job is to elect the GOP. Period.
Source, please?
You aren't still referring to the April 2002 Field Poll of 546 likely voters, taken before the Oracle scandal and budget woes were widely publicized, are you?
Uh, chicken and egg problem. Simon isn't raising big money for a couple reasons. First, he has his own money and donors traditionally feel a rich guy should pony up a substantial amount of his own cash before they help. You can argue about whether that is fair or not (I have mixed feelings) but the perception is that Simon can self-fund, and if he doesn't want it bad enough or have enough confidence in his own campaign to spend his own nickle first, why should they give?
Second, major donors want to give to a party/campaign that has their act together. Maybe Steel should have kept his mouth shut, but Parsky has done nothing but annoy conservatives since he came on the scene. There has always (at least when I lived in Cali) been a disconnect between big money RINO donors who give to keep their taxes low and volunteers who care about other conservative issues (abortion, guns, etc.) But some people (example: Tom Fuentes in Orange County) know how to work with both groups and get them to work with each other. As long as Parsky keeps stirring the waters and leaking this stuff, donors close their wallets.
So Simon doesn't spend his own money, since he had no commercials he doesn't do as well in the polls as he could be doing, donors hold off giving, Simon has no money for ads, he keeps dropping in the polls, chicken egg chicken egg. However, Simon has just purchased ads and come up with some great endorsements so to me it looks like he's on the offensive. A ten point difference four months out is absolutely winnable.
The Bush people have confused the ability to raise money with political smarts. Parsky may be a great fundraiser, but a smart pol would have figured out a way to work with conservatives.