Angeleedo

Angelides' problems are all over the place. The Times' Mark Z. Barabak talked to voters in Hollister, a place that often lines up neatly with the rest of California on election day. The Z writes today:

"But the majority of those interviewed — Democrat, Republican, independent — were unable to identify Angelides without help. A few who came close mispronounced his name as Ack-a-ladies or Angelenos or Angeleedo."

Angelides has been spending a lot of time in San Francisco and Los Angeles — not a good sign for a Democrat. It means he still has catch-up to do with his own party. A recent PPIC poll showed Schwarzenegger beating him 41% to 36% in reliably Democratic L.A. By now, they should be calling it Los Angelides, and the mayor should be off saving more fainting girls instead of candidates.

Angelides' other problem is the Central Valley. He took a beating from Steve Westly in that fast-growing area — and now Schwarzenegger is on his case over the "tractor tax."

Comments

[David Greene]

On Thursday 9/7 Phil Angelides met with Mark Warner for a townhall at LA Trade Tech.

Phil Angelides laid out 2 contrasting visions. That of Bush/Schwarzenegger versus Clinton/Warner/Angelides.

The Clinton/Warner/Angelides vision means balancing the budget by restoring tax rates for the highest earners and lessening the load on the middle class through tax cuts and reduced fees such as for education.

Beyond fiscal responsibility they aim to promote opportunity and economic vitality through support of education, smarter government, and helping small business.

Phil Angelides spoke quite clearly about defending the middle class and opportunity.

They contrasted that with the Bush/Shwarzenegger vision which they described as being fueled by debt that places an unfair burden on our children and of hiding taxes as fees at our universites etc which harm the middle class and reduce opportunity.

They also talked about the broken promises and neglect like Katrina and Schwarzegger and the schools.

They did a much better job of painting the contrasts than I am describing here, and they really connected with the audience. Phil was very well informed and responded thoughtfully and as a friend told me "without fluff". He listens to what people ask and responds directly. Other people too felt he did really well.

Warner spoke about turning around an even larger deficit when he was governor and winning over Republicans to get it done. He said if it could be done in Virginia it could certainly be done in California.

We need Sound Policy not sound bites. Support candidates that deal with the issues.