At the end of 2001, California Gov. Gray Davis looked like he was in serious trouble, with a negative job rating brought about by his perceived handling of the state’s electricity problems. And the most formidable Republican lining up to take him on was recruited by none other than Karl Rove and the Bush White…
In the March 2000 primary, Proposition 26 went down to defeat. The measure would have reduced the threshold necessary to pass local school bonds from two-thirds to a simple majority vote. The proposition failed despite a $20+ million campaign waged on its behalf mainly by the California Teachers Association. A similar measure also had failed…
In the 2000 presidential campaign, Vice Pres. Al Gore was challenged for the Democratic nomination by one-time NBA star and former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley. Since retiring from the Senate after three terms in 1997, Bradley had spent time in residence at Stanford University as he pondered a presidential run, traveling widely throughout California lining…
In 1998, Garry South managed the come-from-behind, landslide victory of then-Lt. Gov. Gray Davis for governor of California – the first sitting Lieutenant Governor of the state in 72 years to win the governorship in his own right, and the only Democrat ever to do so. But at one point in the campaign, Davis was…
In 1992, California state Controller Gray Davis made what many considered an ill-advised run against former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate to take on GOP Sen. John Seymour. Seymour, a state Senator and former mayor of Anaheim, had been appointed by Gov. Pete Wilson in 1991 to…
In 1987 Garry South was hired through a national search process to be the first-ever Communications Director for Ohio Gov. Richard F. Celeste. Celeste handily had won a second term the year before, but his poll numbers were among the lowest of any sitting governor, due to an abortive presidential exploratory run earlier in the…