Ad nauseum

Given the gravity of world events these past six months, we had hoped the intellectual tone of the California governor’s race would rise above the level of a cafeteria food fight. After all, if 9-11 marked the day that everything changed in America, weren’t politicians included in the deal? Weren’t we all swept up in a new spirit of cooperation to not only defend our country, but to ensure that it remains a country worthy of defense? Apparently not, if one were to judge by the television advertising campaigns of the major gubernatorial candidates heading into last Tuesday’s primary.

The prime example has to be the campaign of unopposed Democratic Governor Gray Davis, with its ads attacking Republican frontrunner Richard Riordan’s stances on abortion and capital punishment. The ads have been running since early January, to the tune of $1 million a week, according to the L.A. Times. The campaign chose quantity over quality, saturating the airwaves with a paradoxical message that betrays an increasingly popular brand of Democratic dementia.

In case you somehow missed the Davis ads, the spiel went something like this: On the abortion issue, Riordan once supported pro-life groups. While running for statewide office, he said he was pro-choice. On the death penalty issue, Riordan stated that he would support a temporary moratorium. Why trust this guy? Davis has always supported a woman’s right to choose, the ads stated, and he’d continue to make sure death row inmates are executed in a timely fashion.

While Democrats have been hammering Republicans on abortion for years, their lust for the death penalty came more recently. Put those two things together and consider what the Davis ad says to the potential voter. Choose me, the ad tells this hypothetical citizen, who presumably could be a Republican or a Democrat, because I’m the one who’ll get your killing done for you. Death, then, is the litmus test of the modern-day Democrat.

Don’t get us wrong. We support a woman’s right to choose. But we also support the right to have an open mind on the issue, which is something the Davis campaign wasn’t willing to grant Richard Riordan, and more importantly, its own constituency.

The Davis ad campaign is being hailed in some circles as a political masterstroke, and has received much of the credit for Riordan’s precipitous drop in the polls during the final weeks leading to the primary. Obviously, the ads were designed to ensure that Davis’ opponent in the November general election be conservative Los Angeles businessman Bill Simon instead of the moderate—and more challenging—Riordan.

We’re supposed to be happy about this, but we can’t escape the feeling that a crucial opportunity to talk about the future of California has been squandered.