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Governor's
Race: Davis is the Better Choice Labor Day is the unofficial start of Fall. It’s time for harvest festivals, and before you know it spooks, goblins and witches will try to frighten you into giving them treats. No, I don’t mean Hallowe’en. I refer to the November elections. And in those elections, the biggest spooks are running for Governor. Unless you’ve been in a persistent vegetative state for the year, you will know that Lt. Governor Gray Davis is the Democratic candidate and Attorney General Dan Lungren is his Republican opponent. There are some “campaign correct” similarities between them, but when you discover their differences, it’s easy to see that Davis is the better choice. Of course, my views are colored by the fact that I’m a registered Democrat, and I’d like to see a Democratic Governor in Sacramento for the first time in 16 years. Dukmejian and Wilson were hard to take, and some days I actually miss Jerry Brown. But the simplistic view that a Governor of your own party is automatically a “Good Thing” isn’t sufficient. A look at the candidates shows that Davis is the right person to be Governor. Lungren is not. On the surface, both candidates appear similar. That’s the spooky part of modern politics. First they are both (for better or worse) long-time professional politicians. They are both Roman Catholic, although Lungren plays religion up more to appeal to the Right. They both are trying to look far more centrist than they are. A cruise through either candidate’s web page is like spending a month in a sensory deprivation chamber. Both candidates have attractive pages, strong on sentiment and weak on content. Each strongly affirms that he is for the good things and against the bad things. Very spooky. As you might expect, both candidates love law and order, agriculture, and fine health care for the citizens. Each candidate has tried to broaden support, too. For example, Lungren suggests that he is stronger on gun control than we might have thought. Davis has a section opposing desecration of the flag. This is mostly content-free literature, and based on the generalities supplied, the candidates look the same. Very, very spooky. However, they do differ. Davis actually has more clear positions declared. In the case of Lungren, you have pan a lot of gravel to find a little gold. You have to look for what’s NOT said or read the little paragraphs near the end of any issue. To save you some time, here’s what you need to know:
Public safety may be Lungren’s worst, not his best, issue.
Of course, if Lungren isn’t sufficiently hamstrung by his positions, he’s handicapped by his party. In California, the Republican party is in the minority, and probably shrinking. It has about zero appeal to African-Americans and Latinos. And of course, it continues to alienate women by asserting that they aren’t smart enough to manage their own reproductive tracts. I watched Lungren’s promotional videotape (thank you Nevada County Republican Central Committee). It told us Lungren was swell but never said why. However, there was one impressive thing: he promised an issue-focused, clean campaign. Great if it happens, so let’s watch for it. At this time Davis
leads in the polls by about 12 points. His strategy is probably
to make as few mistakes as possible between now and November -- no extra-marital
affairs, no linkages with Boxer, and no left-wing rhetoric. I think
he’s going to win. |