Davis, Simon Stump for Votes Off the Beaten Path

Gov. Gray Davis on Sunday began a two-day campaign swing across California, reaching out to Latino immigrants and other first-time voters as his Republican challenger, Bill Simon Jr., exhorted fellow Republicans to turn out on Nov. 5.

Accompanied by Latino politicians and labor leaders, Davis touted his record and solicited support at an afternoon rally in the southern Coachella Valley community of Thermal. He made the same pitch later before a Democratic crowd in Oxnard before heading to Anaheim to attend Game 2 of the World Series as a guest of Disney Chairman Michael Eisner.

“We made progress the last four years, but for the 16 years before I came into office the men and women of labor didn’t have a friend in the governor’s office,” Davis told a cheering crowd of about 500 in the Coachella Valley High School gymnasium. “You have one now.”

Davis strode into the gymnasium as the high school mariachi band blasted out a spirited rendition of “La Negra,” a tune that used to announce the arrival of the late United Farm Workers union leader Cesar Chavez. Davis walked past earnest members of the high school cadet corps dressed in camouflage fatigue pants and black shirts, as many in the crowd waved the black-and-red Aztec eagle flags of the UFW.

To the north in San Luis Obispo, Simon dropped in at a Republican golf tournament and crab feed on a fog-enshrouded beach, and told reporters that he has tried to appeal to farm workers and their allies with his proposals for more affordable housing and improved schools. “We’re very, very sensitive to the needs of workers,” he said. “All the solutions that we’ve talked about -- some have been specific to farm workers, but most have been specific to really all of our people.”

With the election little more than two weeks away, the major-party candidates spent Sunday in regions less traveled during the bulk of the state’s gubernatorial campaigns, which usually feature big-city electioneering in Los Angeles and San Francisco, with side trips to Sacramento and San Diego.

But Sunday, Davis was in Thermal and Oxnard. And Simon, after a quick news conference in San Jose, was in San Luis Obispo before heading to Bakersfield, where today he will begin a Central Valley bus tour.

Davis aides said the governor was lured to dust-blown Thermal in part because Coachella Valley High School is home to Chauncey Veatch, a local celebrity after being named national teacher of the year. A banner honoring Veatch hung on one wall.

Most of Davis’ campaign events in the last week have been targeted at inspiring disaffected or disinterested Democrats to vote on Nov. 5 -- rather than appealing to swing or moderate Republican voters who aren’t thrilled with Simon. The Davis efforts are a response to polls that show an especially turned-off electorate heading into the November election, analysts said. The California Labor Federation, UFW and other unions and labor groups in California are leading the mobilization effort on behalf of Davis. UFW members and other farm workers have been fired up in part by Davis’ Sept. 30 signing of legislation granting unionized farm workers the right of mandatory mediation -- a form of binding arbitration -- in stalled negotiations with growers.

Davis is particularly interested in the growing pool of first-time and infrequent voters. In Thermal, a small town set amid date palm groves and citrus orchards, farm worker Hilario Torres, 52, is counting the days until he votes in his first election since becoming a U.S. citizen last year. His choice for governor? “Gray Davis, of course,” said Torres, who with the crowd in the local high school gym cheered the first visit by a California governor in recent memory.

“He’s the governor who has done a lot for the farm workers,” Torres said. “He’s always been a friend of the farm workers.”

The Coachella Valley crowd cheered when Davis ticked off his accomplishments in the last four years -- paid family leave for most California workers, several major pieces of legislation benefiting farm workers, 300,000 new scholarships for college-bound students, and a return to the eight-hour workday revoked by his Republican predecessor, Pete Wilson.

Davis warned that his GOP opponent would roll back most of those measures if elected. “We need to send a message to Mr. Simon,” said Davis, aiming a standard line at Simon, who moved west to California about a decade ago. “He is not going to roll back anything. We’re going to roll him back to New Jersey.”

Simon’s target, in contrast, was the dedicated voter. Speaking briefly to about 75 members of the local Republican central committee seated under a large yellow tent at the edge of an oceanfront golf course in San Luis Obispo, the GOP candidate declared himself upbeat about the state of the campaign. Coatless and with his sleeves rolled up, Simon grabbed the microphone and beamed a sunny smile at the assembled supporters.

“I just wanted to bring you a message of optimism and hope because we are going to win on November the 5th,” he said, prompting cheers from the audience.

“We’re going to win, I can feel it as I go throughout the state. The energy’s there, just like it was in the primary.

“And I can feel the desperation in Mr. Davis,” he said. “He’s a desperate man; he’ll do desperate things.”

Simon said his ideas about jobs, schools and an affordable quality of life are resonating with voters.

“I’m going to be focused on making your life better, every single day of your life, and every single day that I’m in office -- I promise you that,” he said.

Simon’s underdog status has not squelched excitement about his candidacy, several people there said.

“I think for true dedicated Republicans, they’re very anxious,” said Atascadero resident Edie Knight, a member of the central committee. “We’re all in it for the last few weeks.”