CALIFORNIA 54 Electoral Votes
Bush-Cheney Gore-Lieberman
Campaign Campaign
Bush-Cheney State Chairman: Gerry Parsky 
Bush-Cheney State Director: Stacy Carlson
...Bush's Western regional political director; worked for a time at the mid-Atlantic office of Imperial Bank; staff director of the Committee on House Oversight in the 105th Congress.
Office: 6380 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 1600, Los Angeles

Victory 2000 Director of Operations: Debbie McCall

California Republican Party
Chairman: John McGraw
Exec. Dir.: Jon Fleischman
Office: 1903 West Magnolia Blvd., Burbank

Gore-Lieberman State Chairman: Gov. Gray Davis
Gore-Lieberman State Director: Jay Ziegler
...Calif. press secretary for the 1992 Clinton-Gore campaign.  In 1993 he directed public affairs at the White House for NAFTA campaign.  He worked three years at the Department of the Interior, and three years at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative before being named vice president of corporate communications at COMSAT in June 1999.
Office: 888 S. Figueroa St., Suite 400, Los Angeles

Coordinated Campaign Director: Kevin Acebo and Robin Rorapaugh

California Democratic Party
Chairman: Sen. Art Torres (ret.)
Exec. Dir.: Kathy Bowler
Office: 911 - 20th Street, Sacramento

Candidate Travel (Aug. 1-Nov. 7)
GWB: 4 visits
DC: 3 visits
Candidate Travel (Aug. 1-Nov. 7)
AG: 3 visits (includes Dem. Nat'l Conv.)
JL: 5 visits (includes Dem. Nat'l Conv.)
Nov. 5 -- 1. DC and LC attend church services at San Dieguito United Methodist Church in Encinitas.  2. DC and LC rally w/ General Colin Powell at Del Mar County Fairgrounds, Del Mar.  3.  DC and LC rally w/ General Colin Powell at Orange County Fair and Exposition Center in Costa Mesa.  4. DC and LC rally at Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton.
Oct. 31 -- AG appears on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno in Burbank, then does a night rally replete with many Hollywood celebrities in front of the Mann's Bruin Theater at Weyburn Ave and Broxton Ave in Westwood Village (Los Angeles).
Oct. 30-31
Oct. 30 evening -- 1. GWB and LB Victory 2000 rally w/ Sen. John McCain and Cindy at Hilton Burbank Airport & Convention Center, Burbank.  2. GWB appears on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno.  3. GWB and LB Victory 2000 rally w/ Sen. John McCain and Cindy at Fresno Convention Center, Fresno.
Oct. 31 a.m. -- GWB and LB "Bringing America Together" tour (compassionate conservative) visit CityTeam Ministries Family Services in San Jose.  (The stops on this trip were also designed to help three Republican congressional candidates in tight races: Jim Rogan, Rich Rodriguez, and Jim Cunneen).
Oct. 11 -- 1. JL DNC luncheon at St. Regis Hotel, Los Angeles ($).  2. JL attends a Debate Watch party at High Tech High School, San Diego.  3. JL DNC reception, San Diego Hall of Champions, Balboa Park ($).
Oct. 10 -- JL DNC dinner at private residence in Atherton (between stops in Seattle and Portland) ($).
Sept. 26-27
Sept. 26 -- 1.  GWB and LB host morning One-on-One discussion at Sequoia High School in Redwood City.  2. GWB and LB Republican Party fundraiser at private home (Autodesk CEO Carol Bartz) in Atherton ($).  3. GWB and LB appear on "Larry King Live" from studio in Los Angeles.  4. GWB and LB Republican Party evening fundraiser at private home (entrepreneur David Sapperstein) in Bel Air ($).
Sept. 27 a.m. -- GWB discussion on education recession at Ascension Elementary School in South Central Los Angeles.
Sept. 19-20
Sept. 19 -- 1. (a.m.) DC and LC visit, discuss school safety at the Mesa Verde High School in Citrus Heights.  2. DC and LC airport welcome in Fresno; California Victory 2000 luncheon in Fresno.  3. DC and LC discussion on character education at Clovis Unifed Central Valley's Applied Ag. and Tech. Center, Clovis.  4. DC and LC picnic w/ Stanislaus County Republican volunteers at Graceada Park in Modesto.  5. (evening) DC and LC participate in California Victory 2000 reception.
Sept. 20 -- 1. DC and LC breakfast for California Victory 2000.  2. DC, accompanied by LC, discusses defense modernization at Essex Convention Center in Lancaster.  3. California Victory 2000 luncheon in Bakersfield.
Sept. 18-20
Sept. 18 -- AG and JL DNC dinner at private residence, Los Angeles ($).
Sept. 19 -- 1. AG discusses plans to safeguard privacy of medical records, New Horizons Community Center, North Hills (So.Cal.).  2. AG and TG DNC dinner at private residence in Atherton ($). 
Sept. 20 -- AG remarks to supporters, Lakewood Park, Sunnyvale.
Sept. 18-19
Sept. 18 -- JL makes remarks to Guidance Employees with Rep. Jane Harman, Marina Del Rey.
Sept. 19 -- JL rally at the Outdoor Amphitheater at Fresno State University, Fresno.
Sept. 13-15
Sept. 13 -- 1. GWB airport arrival Daugherty Field, Long Beach, 2. Victory 2000 Rally, Asian Garden Market, Westminster.  3. GWB California Republican Party reception, Hyatt Regency Irvine, Irvine.
Sept. 14 -- 1. GWB discusses education reform and closing the achievement gap, Santa Ana High School, Santa Ana.  2. GWB at the Los Angeles County Fair, Pomona.  3. GWB airport arrival, Lindbergh Field, Victory 2000 Republican Party reception, U.S. Grant Hotel, San Diego.
Sept. 15 -- 1. GWB remarks on education, Central Elementary School, San Diego.  2. GWB POW/MIA Day Observance, Veterans Memorial Center and Museum, San Diego.
Aug. 30 -- 1. JL addresses Communications Workers of America, Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim.  2. JL discusses health care to all children, Children's Hospital and Health Center, San Diego.
Aug. 23 -- 3. DC two fundraisers for California Victory 2000 in the Santa Barbara area ($).
2. DC opens Kern County Republican headquarters
1. DC and LC (arr. from San Bernardino Int'l Airport) forum with Junior ROTC cadets at Bakersfield High School, Bakersfield.
Aug. 22 -- 3. DC attends fundraiser at private home, Upland ($).
2. -- DC attends fundraiser at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario ($).
1. DC and LC visit Kingsbury Elementary School in Redlands.
Aug. 14-17 -- Democratic National Convention
Aug. 16 -- AG arrives in Los Angeles for the Democratic National Convention.
Aug. 15 -- JL arrives in Los Angeles for the Democratic National Convention.
Aug. 9-10 GWB and LB Victory 2000 "Change the Tone Tour"
Aug. 9 -- 1. Rally, Oxnard Amtrak Station, Oxnard.  2. Rally, San Luis Obispo Amtrak Station, San Luis Obispo.
Aug. 10 --Victory 2000 "Change the Tone Tour" continues--GWB and LB, joined by Sen. John McCain.
1. Visit National Steinbeck Center, Salinas.  2. Rally, Salinas Amtrak Station, Salinas.  3. Rally, Lodi Amtrak Station, Lodi.
A Sampling of More Campaign Activity A Sampling of More Campaign Activity
Nov. 4 -- California volunteers "W Stands for Women" precinct walks in Huntington Beach, Sherman Oaks, Bakersfield, Redwood City and Eureka.
Nov. 1 -- "Gore Detectors" Govs. Janklow (SD) and Gilmore (VA), state Sen. Ken Armbrister (D-TX), Arizona Sec. of Education Lisa Keegan and senior economic policy adviser Larry Lindsey hold a news conference responding to Gore's visit the previous day.
Oct. 27 -- Foreign policy advisor Condoleezza Rice addresses a women's Bible study at Calvary Chapel in Santa Ana; visits Pasadena Enterprise Center, talks with African American business owners and stumps for Congressman Rogan; stops in Long Beach.
Oct. 24 -- "Barnstorm for Reform" -- Govs. Celluci (MA), Hull (AZ) and Almond (RI) at Tony's Fine Foods in West Sacramento.
Aug. 31 -- Gov. Jeb Bush announces formation of California Educators for Bush at the Napa Valley Unified School District administration building in Napa (according to the Florida Times- Union, Bush was in the state until Sept. 4 and also stopped in Fortuna, Redding, Oakville and Pebble Beach).
Nov. 2-3 -- President Clinton.  Nov. 2 Rally in Baldwin Hills; Nov. 3 Rallies in Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose.
Oct. 29 -- Gov. Gray Davis, Kristin Gore, Dem. candidates rally at the Federal Building in Westwood. 
Oct. 18 -- Hadassah Lieberman visits the Rape Treatment Center at the UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica; speaks at "Women for Gore-Lieberman" rally at Rosa Parks Senior Center in San Francisco.
Sept. 19 -- Tipper Gore attends DNC luncheon at private residence in San Francisco; attends a supporters event with members of the Asian and Pacific American Islander community at Japanese Community Center in San Francisco; joins Al Gore for DNC gala at private residence in Atherton.
Television Television
According to the Brennan Center for Justice (Nov. 21, 2000 report) the Bush campaign, Republican party and supportive groups spent a total of $10,787,658 on TV advertising for the presidential race in California from June 1 to Nov. 7, 2000.  The author of the report questioned whether the spending was "a bold move or an act of sheer lunacy."

According to the Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG Eye,
 Jan. 2001 and Nov./Dec. 2000) during the general election the
 Bush campaign and the RNC ran 8,000 ads in California.  This was fifth most of any state, more than in such battleground states as Wisconsin or Missouri, and accounted for an estimated 14% of spending (behind Florida and Pennsylvania).

Associated Press's Ron Fournier said after the election that he came to the conclusion that Bush made the huge investment in California, "Because they could."  In other words they were confident enough about their position nationally to do it.
 

According to the Brennan Center for Justice (Nov. 21, 2000 report) the Gore campaign spent no money on TV advertising in California from June 1 to Nov. 7, 2000; spending by Democratic party and supportive groups for the presidential race in the June 1 to Nov. 7 period totaled just $126,939.
Some Newspaper Endorsements Some Newspaper Endorsements
San Diego Union-Tribune --10/29/00   Daily 370,395   Sun 439,367
Los Angeles Daily News --10/29/00   Daily 200,387   Sun 210,239
Contra Costa Times --10/29/00   Daily 182,682   Sun 194,887
Press-Enterprise (Riverside) --10/30/00  Daily 166,935   Sun 174,636
Ventura County Star --10/29/00   Daily 96,571   Sun 109,509  EWS
North County Times (SD Cnty) --10/29/00  Daily 95,202   Sun 95,942
Bakersfield Californian --11/5/00   Daily 70,123   Sun 83,963
San Gabriel Valley Tribune --10/26/00   Daily 52,520   Sun 55,101
The Desert Sun --11/5/00   Daily 46,949   Sun 49,241
Tri-Valley Herald (Pleasanton) Daily 43,350   Sun 43,927
Chico Enterprise Record --10/28/00   Daily 33,166   Sun 33,293
Eureka Times-Standard --10/24/00   Daily 19,256   Sun 21,051
Lodi News-Sentinel --11/6/00   Daily 16,947
Vacaville Reporter --10/31/00
Stockton Record
Long Beach Press-Telegram
Pasadena Star News
Redding Record Searchlight --10/29/00   EWS
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
San Francisco Chronicle --10/22/00
San Francisco Examiner --10/8/00
Sacramento Bee --10/22/00   Daily 289,751   Sun 352,081
...and (same) Fresno Bee --10/22/00  Daily 156,915   Sun 191,361
...and (v. similar) Modesto Bee --10/25/00  Daily 83,852   Sun 90,797
San Jose Mercury News --10/29/00   Daily 286,679   Sun 323,481
La Opinion --11/5/00   Daily 117,558   Sun 72,013
Oakland Tribune; Alameda Times Star; The Argus (Fremont-Newark); San Mateo County Times; Daily Review (Hayward)
Press Democrat (Santa Rosa) --10/22/00
Miscellaneous Notes Miscellaneous Notes
California proved to be one of the biggest disappointments for the Bush campaign.  Despite a significant grassroots effort that brought in "a ton of new people," despite major investments in television, direct mail, and visits, and despite many polls showing Gore's margin in single digits, Gore still ended up with nearly a 12% advantage on Election Day.  Bush's closing push in California did cause Gore to add a late visit to the state, on Oct. 31.

Bush strategist Karl Rove rhapsodized on the California effort while speaking to reporters in the media center at the second presidential debate in Winston-Salem on Oct. 11:

"Political history is being made in California today.  There are 200 Bush/Victory 2000 headquarters in California.  There are 700 phones in L.A. County alone being manned every day.  They've distributed something like 3 1/2 million pieces of literature door-to-door.  This is the biggest volunteer effort, and it's directed in part by, the brainchild behind it is a dentist from L.A. named Joe Chen [phon.], but he's a fabulous guy and he sort of engineered all this.  Our chairman in Los Angeles County is a guy named Steve Cass.  He's never done this before.  He's a Harvard classmate of Bush's.  So having never done it before, he doesn't know that you're not supposed to be able to do it.  So he literally has an Assembly District committee in all 40 some-odd Assembly districts in L.A. County, and they have a meeting every six weeks and they have assignments, and you go to these meetings and there are like 450 people for the leadership meetings in L.A. County.  The California party and the national committee have $1.75 million a week in advertising, but even more important than that is this huge volunteer effort that's being mounted all throughout the state."

A reporter then asked Rove about a poll showing Bush down by 13 points in California. 

"Well we don't believe the Pew poll; there's also another public poll showing us 6 down.  In fact take a look at this, here at Zogby.  In the Sacramento district, District 3, Bob Dole lost it by one percentage point; in a poll 2 1/2 weeks ago we were up by eight.  In the Santa Barbara district, Bob Dole won it by less than 500 votes; we were nine up in that district less than 10 days ago.  The Fresno Bee did a poll in the Dooley district, which is the western part of the Central Valley.  It was lost by Bob Dole by I think either nine or 11 points.  In the Fresno Bee poll we were up by four.  These are areas where the RNC has run nearly 3,000 points of unanswered television.  And we're way ahead of where Bob Dole was."
 



 
Nader-LaDuke Buchanan-Foster
Campaign Campaign
Ross Mirkarimi
Offices
No. Calif.: 680 Valencia Street, San Francisco
So. Calif.: 215. S. La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles
Doug Zeitz of Fremont and Del McLaughlin, state director
Candidate Travel (Aug. 1-Nov. 7) Candidate Travel (Aug. 1-Nov. 7)
Nov. 3 -- Long Beach (Super Rally)
Oct. 20-24
Oct. 24 -- Oakland
Oct. 23 -- Chico, Palo Alto
Oct. 22 -- Walnut Creek, Davis
Oct. 21 -- Fresno, Oakland (Super Rally)
Oct. 20 -- Riverside, Orange, Claremont
Oct 25-27
Oct. 27 -- Los Angeles
Oct. 26 -- Bakersfield, Claremont
Oct. 25 -- San Francisco, Fresno
Sept. 12-14
Sept. 14 -- San Francisco, San Jose
Sept. 13 -- Long Beach, Los Angeles
Sept. 12 -- Los Angeles
Oct. 9
Sacramento
Los Angeles
Aug. 21-24
Aug. 24 -- Sacramento, Davis, Sacramento
Aug. 23 -- Santa Barbara, Salinas, Santa Cruz
Aug. 22 -- San Diego, Ventura
Aug. 21 -- Los Angeles
Reform Party Convention ran Aug. 10-13 in Long Beach.
Television
Note. Mendocino County, on the Northern California coast, produced one of Nader's best showings nationwide (percentagewise); he won 14.7 percent of the vote (5,051 votes). The Buchanan campaign made significant buys in California.
Browne-Olivier
Browne held an evening rally in San Rafael on the evening of Nov. 2.

He spent Aug. 23-26 in the Los Angeles area.  In addition to his many interviews, Browne did an evening rally w/ running mate Art Olivier in Woodland Hills on Aug. 25 and a late afternoon rally in Glendale on Aug. 26.

Browne made a California swing in late July-early Aug.  He arrived in SF on July 29.  He spent Aug. 1 in the Bay area doing interviews and an evening fundraiser.  On Aug. 2 he flew to San Diego where he did interviews and an evening fundraiser.  On Aug. 3 he did interviews and an evening fundraiser in Irvine.

The LP National Convention was held June 30 to July 3 in Anaheim.  Also, Browne's running mate Art Olivier, selected at the Anaheim Convention, lives in Bellflower, California.



 
Spotlight on Los Angeles County
(Based on testimony of Connie B. McCormack, Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, 
before the Committee on House Administration on May 10, 2001).

For the Nov. 7, 2000 General Election in Los Angeles County:

  • 4,075,037 registered voters.
  • 4,963 precincts, 25,131 election day poll workers.
  • 263 different types of ballots in 7 languages. 
  • 2,767,927 voters cast ballots in Los Angeles County, more ballots cast than in 41 states.
  • 521,180 people voted by absentee ballot.
  • Voting done using Votomatic punch cards, with the exception of a pilot touch screen voting system which drew 21,963 voters at nine locations.
  • Cost of administering the election was $20.4 million.

Copyright 2000, 2001  Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.