I was reading a while back that Bush in 2000 actually tried to make a serious effort to win California,I was wondering why considering from a realist political he stood no chance at all in the state and he clearly didn't succed at all in making it competitive.
Polling showed the state somewhat close, and Bush seemed to get the idea that he was going to win easily nationwide. He started to take time to campaign in more long-shot states like New Jersey and California...but more for the benefit of other candidates down ballot than the benefit of himself.
Remember that there were a large number of competitive House seats in California in 2000 (Democrats swept most of them), and perhaps someone still had their fingers crossed for Tom Campbell.
