Davis Is Halting Attack Ads as Campaign Enters Final Weeks
In an abrupt shift in strategy, Gov. Gray Davis is pulling all his television commercials attacking challenger Bill Simon Jr. off the air and plans to run only positive ones in the remaining weeks of the race.
Davis' advisors said they are making the change -- an early if traditional pivot at the end of a hard-fought campaign -- because they are confident in their lead over the Republican nominee.
Simon has struggled to gain traction since the March primary, only to be set back repeatedly by missteps in his campaign, including a false charge last week that he had evidence of illegal Davis fund-raising.
"We think we've reached a point in the campaign where Simon has utterly failed to make his case," said Davis campaign strategist Garry South in confirming the switch. "Most voters have turned away from him, and they're waiting to hear from the governor."
But the move comes at the end of what many political experts say has been an exceedingly negative election season that has left many voters with bitter feelings about both candidates. A recent Los Angeles Times poll found that almost two-thirds of voters are dissatisfied with their choices, and many predict that could lead to one of the lowest voter turnouts ever seen in California.
"When both campaigns are telling you the other guy is a sleazebag, there's not a lot of reason to go vote," said David Provost, a professor of political science at Cal State Fresno.
Some said Davis is switching tactics at least in part because he too has suffered from the relentlessly negative tone of his ads.
"I think it's dawning on even [Davis'] top people that that has been a mistake, because there's no enthusiasm for Gray Davis," said Tony Quinn, co-editor of the nonpartisan California Target Book.
Despite their ideological differences, both Davis and Simon have made a remarkably similar pitch to voters: The other guy is worse than I am.
Davis has called Simon a right-wing extremist and incompetent businessman who is not fit to run the country's most populous state. Simon has said Davis is a failed governor and accused him of trading state policy for political donations.
The mutual derision has dominated their television advertising and political appearances. But they have said far less about why voters should pick them to run the state.
"I think both candidates still have a great deal of selling of themselves left to do," Quinn said.
