In 1998, Garry South managed the come-from-behind, landslide victory of then-Lt. Gov. Gray Davis for governor of California \u2013 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 running a poor fifth in the respected Field Poll, with only 8 percent of the vote. As late as March 1998, two months before the primary, he was mired in fourth place. One national magazine wrote him off as \u201croad kill.\u201d<\/p>\n
Davis\u2019s two self-funding Democratic primary opponents between them spent nearly $60 million, still a national record for a state primary campaign. But through clever marshalling of resources, perfect timing, a highly targeted approach to voters \u2013 and a devastatingly effective slogan, \u201cExperience Money Can\u2019t Buy\u201d \u2013 Davis demolished the other Democrats, spending only $9 million but receiving more votes than both of them combined. The headline in the San Diego Union-Tribune said it all: \u201cDavis defeats big money.\u201d He even received more votes than the only Republican running in the open primary, Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren.<\/p>\n
In the general election, Davis swamped Lungren, the Republican nominee, by 58-38 \u2013 the biggest winning margin in an open-seat governor\u2019s race in the state in 40 years \u2013 becoming the first Democratic governor of California to be elected in 20 years, and only the fourth in the entire 20th century.<\/p>\n
The Sacramento Bee described South as the \u201cmastermind\u201d behind Davis\u2019s victories, while the non-partisan California Journal described his work as \u201cstunning\u201d and \u201cone of the greatest resurrections in California political history.\u201d For his achievement, he was named \u201cCampaign Manager of the Year\u201d by the American Association of Political Consultants, an honor he shares with Karl Rove, James Carville and the late Lee Atwater.<\/p>\n