Bush Zigzags After Choice Loses in California Primary Making it much more likely that the governorship of the state, with one of eight American voters, will remain Democratic, this not only compromises Bush’s chances to take the state in 2004, but damages him for having “picked the wrong candidate.” Grey Davis, in a sense, engineered it:

In a highly unusual move, Mr. Davis essentially picked his own opponent by spending as much as $10 million on television commercials — about as much as Mr. Simon and Mr. Riordan combined spent — that depicted Mr. Riordan as a flake who shifted his positions on abortion and the death penalty. Some strategists said it was as if Mr. Davis won both primaries, his own, with token opposition, and the Republican contest.

Although the advertising barrage deeply wounded Mr. Riordan, he did not help himself by being impetuous on the stump and by focusing just on Mr. Davis and neglecting conservatives who are crucial to winning Republican primaries here. NY Times.