Poor Simon. The GOP guv candidate in California is once again on the defensive, this time trying to justify firing half his staff. The move was clearly necessary, and buys Simon an extra week of ads in the expensive California markets. However, the press prefers writing juicy stories about his struggling campaign, rather than regurgitating Simon's daily talking points. Thus, Simon's poll numbers are plummeting as his campaign is perpetually on the defensive.

It's clear that Simon's people hope Bush's visit later this month gives his campaign a boost. That would not be a bad thing. Every dollar spent on a futile CA race is one less dollar that the GOP can spend on a real tossup elsewhere. And having Bush and Simon on the same stage will be brilliant -- there'll be no better proof that the GOP is the party of corporate malfeasance. One anonymous GOP strategist sighed:

The lousy part for the White House is having the president stand next to someone in the middle of a corporate fraud case two weeks after Bush signed a zero-tolerance corporate responsibility bill."