Posted on 11/04/2006 3:14:24 PM PST by calcowgirl
LOS ANGELES - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic rival Phil Angelides began their final push before Election Day with campaign swings throughout the state, rallying supporters and encouraging volunteers on last-minute get-out-the-vote drives.
Angelides, who is trailing in the polls and has found it difficult to break free of Schwarzenegger's shadow, got his own celebrity welcome Saturday from hundreds of union members who were preparing to walk precincts.
The state treasurer urged supporters not to get discouraged despite two recent public opinion polls that show him trailing the Republican incumbent by 16 and 18 percentage points. He predicted that a national Democratic wave will surge to California on Tuesday, lifting his struggling campaign to a come-from-behind victory.
"We're going to find out at 8:01 (p.m.) on Tuesday that the wave is going to crest here in California," he told enthusiastic supporters at the headquarters of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also was appealing to the party faithful on Saturday with north-to-south visits to local Republican headquarters in Chico, Pleasanton and Riverside.
About 50 volunteers chanted "Arnold, Arnold" as he appeared at a volunteer office in Pleasanton, a suburb about 45 miles east of San Francisco.
He shook hands with volunteers and worked the phones with Republican field workers, encouraging them to knock on doors throughout the weekend. The governor said there were about 75,000 Republican volunteers working on get-out-the-vote efforts statewide.
He acknowledged that effort with a reference to his bodybuilding days.
"I know when you work out and you want to be a bodybuilding champion, you can do it by yourself," he told the volunteers. "But if you want to be governor, you need thousands of people helping you."
He also said he would spend the weekend campaigning not for himself but for the $37.3 billion package of infrastructure bonds he helped put on the general election ballot. A recent Field Poll showed the four bonds - for roads, schools, levees and affordable housing - were leading.
"I can only provide the success I promised if people vote yes on (measures) 1A through 1E," he said. "I want to see cranes everywhere in California."
Angelides received an equally warm greeting from the several hundred people who cheered him on at the Los Angeles labor rally. At one point, Angelides and the city's popular mayor, Antonio Villairagosa, jumped from the stage to mingle with the crowd.
Dozens of supporters jockeyed to pose for photos with Angelides.
Among them was Nate Robertson and his twins, 6-year-olds Natasha and Nate Jr., and his wife, Keisha, an organizer for a health care workers union.
Nate Robertson said he was motivated to go door-to-door on Angelides' behalf in South Los Angeles because he believes the Democrat will do more to help working families than Schwarzenegger.
"The people were hoodwinked; they were bamboozled," by Schwarzenegger, Robertson said.
He admitted to being slightly discouraged by polls showing Angelides trailing badly.
"But he can make it up once we get out there," Robertson said.
About 575 union workers were expected to canvass neighborhoods over the weekend in South Los Angeles, the San Gabriel Valley and the San Fernando Valley, said Mary Gutierrez, a spokeswoman for the labor federation.
Angelides appeared with most of the statewide Democratic ticket at the Los Angeles labor rally and touched on familiar Democratic themes, such as workers' rights and education. But he also displayed a more aggressive side, deriding Schwarzenegger for missteps in his references to women and immigrants.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Neither is he likely to leave the protection of CaGOP offices. If caught out in the open by average Republicans, as opposed to the blindly partisan operatives in CaGOP headquarters , he would be savaged from the right over his borrowing policies.
The chant would arise:
No new taxes! No new taxes! No new taxes!
"I can only provide the success I promised if people vote yes on (measures) 1A through 1E," he said.And what was it that he promised, exactly? To "cut up the credit cards"? To "not spend more than we have"? To "cut, cut, cut"?
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
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