Getting to Know You

Deep inside in the new Public Policy Institute of California poll is this nugget: "Whose ads have you seen the most?" Surprisingly, a large percentage of those surveyed said they had seen Phil Angelides' TV ads more than Arnold Schwarzenegger's ads.

Angelides won by a 12-point margin in this category, 37% to 25%. And yet, Angelides remains mired behind Schwarzenegger in the poll. Voters see him on TV, and nothing changes. To be fair, these people may be thinking they are seeing an "Angelides ad" when in fact they've absorbed tens of millions of dollars of negative ads attacking him. They just see him on TV a lot, thanks to his opponents.

Nevertheless, Angelides has been running TV ads supporting himself and attacking Schwarzenegger on and off for nearly two years. The photo at right is of Angelides at a Jan. 4, 2005, press conference releasing ads criticizing the governor for failing to deal with the state's budget shortfall.

Bill Carrick, Angelides' media consultant, dismissed the PPIC poll in a press conference today announcing a new Angelides TV ad. He said the poll didn't reflect a growing Democratic surge and was a "very static look at the electorate, very conservative, very old and a very low-turnout electorate. My own view is we're going to have Democrats turn out in disproportionate numbers to Republicans."

With only 57% of Democrats supporting Angelides in the new poll, Angelides is spending the rest of the week with prominent members of his own party. Democratic chairman Howard Dean appears with him today and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois shows up tomorrow. The new Angelides TV ad shows him standing in front of photographs of Schwarzenegger saying the governor wins the award for "best performance by a Republican pretending to be someone he's not."

(Photo: Rich Pedroncelli / AP)