Moderation Is Not a Primary Purpose

Re “Simon’s Best Hope: Be a New Riordan,” Opinion, March 10: Tony Quinn seems to misunderstand the purpose of a primary election. The primary should be a reflection of the views of a political party and not the view of what everyone who votes thinks of the party.

Republicans are not interested in a “middle of the road, I love everyone” candidate. Rather, the Republican selection of Bill Simon reflects what our party wants in the next governor of California. The Supreme Court made the right decision to discard the blanket primary process as unconstitutional. It was not Justice Antonin Scalia who made the biggest difference in the election, it was Richard Riordan--who failed to understand what Republicans stand for. We don’t want a “new” Riordan, we want Simon.

Michael Aspland

Oxnard

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I’ve never been that thrilled with Gov. Gray Davis and was giving some thought to voting for Riordan if he won the Republican primary. Rest assured that Simon will not get my vote no matter how he tries to reinvent himself. Simon billed himself as an ultra-conservative Republican. After the 2000 presidential election it behooves us all to beware of right-wing politicians masquerading in moderate clothing.

Sal Garner

Santa Ana

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Nearly every article on Simon seems to mention his relationship with former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Your March 10 article (“Giuliani GOP’s No. 1 Running Mate”) was typical. It said, “And it can nudge swing voters, including Californians who may be bothered by Simon’s antiabortion, anti-gun-control views--two topics where Giuliani’s stands are more moderate than those of his endorsed candidate.” Am I missing something here?

Are people so stupid that they would vote for someone whose views they disagree with simply because he is buddies with someone whose views they share?

Karen Dauphin

Agoura Hills

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To say that Gov. Davis selected his opponent gives him more credit than he deserves.

I will always think, unless Davis says otherwise in a memoir, that since nobody was close to Riordan in the polls when Davis’ campaign started the attacks, Davis just wanted to face a weaker Riordan. He probably thought (and correctly, in my opinion) Riordan would get nominated but conservatives would stay home in the fall election, seeing no real difference between the candidates, letting Davis skate to reelection.

Instead, the Republicans have a candidate who will bring conservatives out to vote. Simon’s own skill, his pro-business conservatism, the help from Giuliani and the inept Dukakis-ian campaign of Riordan had more to do with the 50-point swing and Simon’s victory than Davis’ overdoing his strategies again.

Andrew Sautter

Simi Valley

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I probably should be in a museum, because I am a moderate Republican. Voting is very important to me, and I have never missed an election yet. Simon doesn’t share my values on America’s treasured right to vote; he doesn’t always vote. Yet I can’t vote for Davis. In November, I will either vote for a third-party candidate or skip the governor selection. It’s really a shame that Republicans will lose the governor’s race when Riordan had such a good chance of winning it for us.

BG Harper

Fountain Valley

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If only Davis could exhibit the same enthusiastic, proactive and creative approach to governing as he has to fund-raising and the hijacking of the Republican gubernatorial primary. I am not thrilled with the expected tenor of the upcoming campaign that undoubtedly will focus on a full array of social nonissues (abortion, et al.) instead of budget priorities. It is no wonder that so few people show up to vote.

Dave Perrone

West Hollywood