Davis Airs First TV Ads in Race Against Simon

Five months before voters go the polls, Gov. Gray Davis effectively launched the fall election campaign Wednesday by airing a pair of television spots touting his record on abortion, the environment, crime and gun control.

The 30-second ads, which never mention Republican rival Bill Simon Jr., are the first advertisements either candidate has run since the March 5 primary and underscored the incumbent’s tremendous financial advantage in the governor’s race. Democrat Davis has more than $30 million in his campaign bank account, several times the amount Simon has managed to raise since his surprise victory in March.

The spots began running in Los Angeles, Sacramento and the Central Valley and will air for roughly the next four weeks at a cost of several million dollars. There were no indications that Simon planned to match Davis’ advertising anytime soon.

The GOP candidate was in the Central Valley on Wednesday, kicking off the first in a series of planned issue forums with an agriculture summit in Lodi.

Sitting in front of a faux red-barn backdrop at a civic center auditorium, Simon reiterated his support for construction of dams and reservoirs to help the state’s vital agriculture industry. He told the invitation-only gathering of 60 people--only about half a dozen of them farmers--that if he is elected governor the “era of neglect, of indifference” will end for California agriculture.

Davis was making his case on the TV airwaves. In the first of his spots, airing primarily in the Los Angeles and Sacramento areas, the governor speaks directly to the camera and boasts of signing “the toughest gun safety laws in the nation,” protecting the state’s coastline, air and water, and creating a state department to “help

The ad highlighted contentious issues such as abortion, guns and the environment that have bedeviled many statewide Republican candidates. “I’ve signed new laws protecting a woman’s right to choose,” Davis said. “But we must face down every threat to that right.”

Simon, who personally opposes abortion, has said that as governor he would uphold all legal and constitutional “protections of reproductive freedom.”

In the second spot, airing in the more conservative Central Valley, Davis touts his law enforcement endorsements and cites efforts to crack down on gangs and the production of methamphetamine, a particular plague in the valley.

The decision to air largely positive spots is typical for the start of an incumbent reelection campaign, and the launch coincides with the normal opening of the fall election season in California. (This year’s March primary was unusually early; most years, Californians vote on the first Tuesday in June.)

Garry South, the governor’s chief political strategist, noted the difficulty that a governor has communicating day-to-day with voters in a state as vast and disparate as California, “whether [it is] Gray Davis, Pete Wilson or [George] Deukmejian. It’s something you have to do with” TV advertising. For Davis, the need may be particularly acute, given his sagging approval rating in popularity polls.

The governor spent about $10 million on advertising in the primary, but most of it was aimed at Simon’s Republican opponent, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan. The blitz played a significant role in pushing Simon past Riordan and giving Davis the general election candidate he preferred.

The implicit contrast in the one commercial unveiled Wednesday was mild compared to the advertising likely to follow. “Ultimately, our media campaign in the general election will consist both of positive communication ... and also spots dealing with Bill Simon,” South said.

For its part, the Simon camp said it felt no need to respond immediately. “I fully expect we’ll be competitive,” said Sal Russo, who is running the Simon campaign. “We’ll have plenty of money to tell our story, and our story is far more compelling.”

In Lodi, the GOP hopeful mostly listened as a sympathetic panel of agriculture experts discussed a range of concerns, from the need for more water storage to the burdens of state and federal regulation.

“At times it seems the best thing Sacramento can do is get out of the way,” Joel Nelsen, president of California Citrus Mutual, told Simon.

After the discussion, the candidate declared the exercise “useful” and vowed to much applause that if elected “one of my first official acts will be to declare the farmer an endangered species.” But he provided few other specifics.

When questioned about looming federal air quality restrictions that could hurt agriculture, Simon said, “We’ve just started looking at that.”

Asked about recent reports of peril to the Sierra snowpack from global warming, Simon said he would need to take a hard look before announcing a stance.

Later, advisors said Simon would follow up on Wednesday’s summit by naming an agricultural task force to advise the GOP candidate and formulate a policy agenda by election day.