Who Are the Three Other Candidates?
Originally posted October 12, 2002

The media has been full of reports about voter disenchantment with the two leading candidates for governor. Current polls suggest that 60-65% of California voters prefer neither candidate. So what other options do voters have? Are any of the third party candidates a viable option for voters this November?

Peter Camejo, Green party

Camejo asserts that his campaign his based on the 10 Key Values of the Green party.

Most recent recent press about Peter Camejo, the Green party candidate, revolves around his being denied entrance to the Bill Simon - Gray Davis debate last week. Simon had invited him as a spectator, but Davis threatened to walk out on the debate if Camejo was in the audience.

The Davis campaign is likely concerned that Camejo will acquire a significant portion of the liberal vote and could cost Davis the election.

Camejo's web site provides the excluded candidate's responses to many of the debate questions.



Gary Copeland, Libertarian party

Gary Copeland is the CEO of a bio-information company based in Orange County and a Druid.

Apparently, an article in the Worldnet Daily in which Copeland speaks of his druid practices, caused a bit of a tiff in the California libertarian party. When party chairman, Aaron Starr found out, he threatened to withdraw Copeland's nomination.

Regardless of his "quirky" religious beliefs, Copeland's campaign is focused on traditional libertarian values -- to protect the individual liberties provided by the Constitution. His campaign platform includes the privatization of the school system, abolition of the state income tax and the end of the War on Drugs.

Other than articles in the OCWeekly and Worldnet Daily regarding Copeland's druidry, media coverage of Copeland's campaign has been scant.



Reinhold Gulke

Where can a right-wing Republican go when he/she becomes disenchanted with the party? Apparently, he/she joins the American Independent party.

Reinhold Gulke left the Republican party several years ago when he became unhappy with its treatment of moral issues and education.

Gulke's main platform is that he is pro-life and anti-immigration. Now how far does he honestly think he can get in this state?

Originally posted October 10, 2002

Davis' decision to veto a bill that would allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses may have cost him some political backing from the Latino community, which has strongly supported Davis in the past.

Four years ago 78% of Latinos voted for Davis and according to a Davis spokesperson, he still boasts support above 70%.

However, last week the Legislative Latino Caucus, which represents the states 22 latino legislators, held a conference call among several members and voted to remain neutral in the gubernatorial campaign.

While this is a significant change from four years ago when the caucus voted to support Davis' election, it is important to note that not all members of the caucus have decided to shun Governor Davis.

There are other issues that Latino Californians have their eyes on, including healthcare, education and labor. Most voters do not make decisions based on one issue, but a set of several issues. Either way, it will be interesting to see what level of voter support Davis will see this year from the Latino community.

Simon's "sincere regret" for false accusations
Originally posted October 10, 2002

Simon expressed "sincere regret" for the now disproven allegations he made that Davis had illegally accepted campaign funds during a meeting in government offices.

Simon stopped short of actually apologizing for the mistake, perhaps because it was COPS (the California Organization of Police and Sheriffs) that actually made the initial accusation. COPS has now said they will withdraw the complaint.

Davis, this morning, called for Simon's withdrawl from the race as a result of the debacle.

Amazingly enough, Simon still asserts that Davis' campaign financing activities should still be investigated.

Due to software gliches with weblogger.com I'm transferring my blog to blogger.com. Note that there will be several postings with the byline date of October 13. These were originally posted earlier in the week, but I was unable to retrodate this postings.