Why Simon Lost

National Review Online ^ | 11/7/02 | Arnold Steinberg

[My2Cents]

There is something to be said for being pragmatic, and not simply ideological, when voting in primaries to select candidates. Can we agree never to nominate a novice again? (Ronald Reagan was hardly a novice, btw, as one who had spent at least a decade thinking about and giving speeches on public policy issues before ever running for office.)

[Satadru]

This column is a whole bunch of BS. Simon did exceedingly well. He is trying to justify why liberal Republicans did not support him. I dismiss his entire premise. What does Davis' fundraising rap-sheet has anything to do with Simon not releasing his tax-return? One should be of public record, and the other private. This guy is an apologist for liberal Republicans who voted for Davis.

[Hugin]

Simon lost because he allowed Gray Davis' campaign manager Gary South to define who he is to the voters. He attacked Simon's character for months, with no real response from Simon. One of the oldest rules in politics is that a charge unanswered is a charge believed. Most of the voters saw the election as a choice between an incompetent incumbent, and an incompetent crook. If Simon really wanted to be Governor he should have commited $10-20 million of his own money and started running ads back in July not just attacking Davis (Davis already had plenty of negatives) but defining himself in a positive light. The bottom line is Simon didn't want to be governor bad enough to do that, so he lost.

[Thud]

Simon was the most incompetent major GOP candidate in the whole country for this year's elections. He was an utter disaster as a campaigner.

[Mediaqueen]

Keep the novice candidates.... Simon was sharp, personable, generous. He grew into his role as candidate and was terrific in the final days when he threw away his script and spoke from the heart. It's the "we're the pros" handlers who kept a tight leash on Bill Simon for fear he would make a mistake...but they were the ones who were making them all. Unfortunately, it seems they were successful in convincing an inexperienced candidate to go along ... that's the only downfall of having someone who's a novice.

[Hugin]

This column is a whole bunch of BS. Simon did exceedingly well.

No he didn't. Davis is extraordinarilly unpopular with an approval rating of about 40%. Simon should have won. I was a Simon backer from the day he announced, but he let us down. He just didn't want it bad enough to do what he had to.

[eureka!]

Hugin, I think you are largely correct. South did all he could do--bring Simon down to Davis' level. It meant that a lot of GOP're stayed home, about one million. Amazing. Simon still fared well, besting Lundgren's numbers in '98 by 15 points....

CT- FYI. And yes, I ate my crow. ;^)

[Thud]

That would have been a good strategy, but events have shown that Simon was incapable of executing it. If he couldn't run effective negative ads against Gray Davis, he couldn't run an effective image-building campaign for himself. Everything he did after the primary turned to stone.

[Digger]

Oh Come On! If he would have taken a stance against ILLEGAL immigration he would have won.

[babble-on]

This will fall on deaf ears, but it sure would have been nice to have someone with an (R) after his name for national campaign purposes in two years.

[hchutch]

I think Simon's a lot like Giuliani. Didn't Giuliani lose his election by a few points in an area thought to be VERY Democratic?

I'll let him take a shot in `06. He'll come back better the next time around. Can't give up on the guy, IMHO.

[kellynla]

The only thing lamer than monday morning quarterbacking is a limp penis. Bottom line. Millions of Califronia voters failed to vote the Dimwit out of office and for the next four years we are all going to pay the price(unless we move). When the voters of CA have had enough of the lefties' incompetence they will vote the bums out of office. Succinct?

[daguberment]

I live in Cali. Simon ran an awful, no, a horrible campaign. Just bad. Sure he's a nice guy and all, but it was a terrible campaign, filled with mistakes, missed opportunities etc. The Republican party needed only run a reasonable candidate and Gray would have went down. An amazing blunder, but then maybe they didn't want the win given the deficits in this state.

[dalereed]

Simon lost along with the rest of the state offices because of a pathetic Republican turnout. Even the the high Republican registration counties didn't get the Republicans out to vote.

If we had had a respectable Republican voter turnout not only would Simon have won but we would have taken all the state offices.

Simon did get a slightly higher % of the vote than the rest of the state office contenders and by all rights should have and could have won with a decent Republican turnout.

[Hugin]

The only thing lamer than monday morning quarterbacking is a limp penis.

OK, but I've been saying the same thing since July.

[TommyDale]

"Why Simon Lost"

Let me guess -- this is a stretch -- could it be, perhaps, because HE IS A LOSER?

[Bernard Marx]

Simon lost because he allowed Gray Davis' campaign manager Gary South to define who he is to the voters.

Very true. "Moneybags" (labor, trial lawyers, teachers union, etc.) Davis will try to buy his way to the Presidency in exactly the same way. Of course John (Heinz) Kerry has a few of his wife's bucks stashed away, too. But Davis knows how to skulk in the wings, waiting his opportunity.

Still, I fault Karl Rove for being too faint of heart to schedule a Bush campaign stop in California just prior to the election. Bush was stand-offish throughout the campaign toward Simon, as was the California Republican political machine itself. If your friends won't help you, who will? This is just another symptom of the California Republican sickness.

[kellynla]

I've been saying the same thing for 30 years. LMAO

[88keys]

...but it was a terrible campaign...

Sounds like that's true, and the "novice" should have fired all his "senior advisors", perhaps.

Also occurs to me that, considering Davis' character, and Democrat election trends in general, it may not be entirely Simon's poor campaigning that led to his defeat despite great dislike for Davis...

[kellynla]

Simon is a loser? And how much did you make last year? And how much did you donate to charity last year? And how many times have you run for political office and donated your own money doing it? People like you who do nothing but sit in front of their computers and criticize are the "losers." At least Simon got in the fight! Which is a hell of a lot more than what you did!