Free Republic

The Democratic candidates for governor didn't mean to -- but they gave the voters a step-by-step televised demonstration this week of why, when it comes to beating Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in November, it just might be time to start humming the theme from "Mission Impossible." Name-dropping: In the first 10 minutes, Angelides replayed the list of his endorsements -- Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi, the California Democratic Party, etc., etc. -- over and over. Hey, this was "Decision: 2006,'' not "Pimp My Ride.'' -- What's to disagree on? Westly and Angelides were twins on the McCain-Kennedy...

Arnold Schwarzenegger is one lucky fellow, which is to say he’s smart enough not to make the same mistakes twice. If I were a betting woman in this bluest of blue states, I’d put my money on the Terminator to win re-election, no small feat when you consider that every single other statewide office here is held by a Democrat. Let me make my biases clear at the outset. I’m a Democrat, but I don’t have a horse in this race. I’ve known Phil Angelides, one of his opponents, since 1988, when he was an early supporter of my presidential...

Many words have been written and spoken - for good reason - about the California Republican Party's tendency to blow chances of winning statewide offices by presenting a stridently right-wing face, thus alienating moderate voters who are decisive in any major contested race. More recently, however, the state's Republicans have been presenting a more moderate image of themselves. Cultural conservatives have given way, albeit reluctantly, to more pragmatic leaders from the business wing of the party, and Arnold Schwarzenegger proved in 2003 that Republicans could still win in California if they consciously cultivated independents and moderates. With those developments, the...

In the “Stand” spot, Westly says, “I’m Steve Westly – before I ask for your vote, I owe it to you to tell you where I stand. I’m strongly pro-choice and I believe protecting our environment is fundamental. As governor, I’ll make education my top priority.” Then the announcer adds, “Steve Westly. Require big corporations to provide adequate health insurance, expand the Healthy Families Program, incentives for hybrid vehicles and solar energy, stop any new offshore drilling.” Steve Westly is proud to have won endorsements from a diverse array of people and organizations including the Sierra Club, the United Farm...

They're focused on the Capitol's perpetual war between business and the big four Democratic Party subfactions: labor unions, personal injury lawyers, environmentalists and consumer protection advocates. Other conflicts come and go, but this power struggle has dominated the Capitol for decades, manifesting itself in a yearly agenda of specific issues with immense economic consequences for those involved. The past two years have been bleak ones for the Big 4 because Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has aligned himself with the California Chamber of Commerce and other business groups, rejecting nearly all of the measures they had dubbed "job killers." Schwarzenegger and...

Democratic Candidate for Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi released the following statement regarding today’s Field Poll. The poll shows Garamendi with a double-digit lead among Democratic Primary voters and in the best position to defeat right-wing extremist Tom McClintock in the fall. “But first I'll work everyday between now and June 6 to earn the votes of Democrats across California. Then, as I have done twice before, I will build a coalition of Democrats, fair-minded independents and Republicans so I can defeat Tom McClintock in the fall.” In addition, Garamendi has nearly swept the endorsement race, earning the support of the...

The immigration debate that has dominated state and national news for the past few weeks has been great stuff for the conservative Republican host (Al Rantel) and his listeners, and it’s an issue on which he’d like to hold Arnold Schwarzenegger’s feet to the fire. Schwarzenegger has been largely parroting the position of President George W. Bush, calling for tightened borders but also guest-worker programs that conservatives equate with an amnesty. It may end up that Schwarzenegger will need every available vote. An April 14 Field Poll shows him in a dead heat with Democratic challenger Westly, with each preferred...

Adding some needed oomph to Treasurer Phil Angelides' down-in-the-polls campaign for governor, California Democratic Party delegates voted Saturday to endorse him over opponent Steve Westly. And it wasn't close. Angelides received 67.2 percent of the delegate vote, compared to 28.1 percent for Westly late Saturday, the same day a Los Angeles Times poll showed Westly with a 13-point lead among likely Democratic primary voters. Now, Angelides heads into the June Primary with bragging rights. It was the first time the party had bestowed a pre-primary endorsement in a contested governor's race in 16 years. Voting took place Saturday evening, and...

Until recently, Doug Case supported state Treasurer Phil Angelides for governor, but the 51-year-old Democratic Party delegate said he's beginning to change his mind. "If you asked me a few months ago, I would have said I was voting for Angelides. But now I'm probably leaning toward Westly," said Case, a coordinator for fraternities and sororities at a San Diego university, who attended this weekend's California Democratic Party Convention. "My top priority is to defeat Arnold." His reason for potentially flipping allegiances illustrates a growing problem for Angelides, a millionaire land developer and former party chairman who has most of...

Listen to state Treasurer Phil Angelides, who proposes a plan to cut gasoline consumption in the state by 25 percent over the next 10 years, principally by forcing automakers to sell cars that can also run on “biofuels” derived from agricultural waste - things such as fruit pits, corn husks and cobs, and more. “The governor says he wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions, but then he promotes his ‘strategic growth initiative,' which does nothing to ensure cutting anything,” Angelides said. In fact, the Schwarzenegger “strategic growth” plan would widen freeways, build new toll roads and truck lanes, retrofit bridges...

SACRAMENTO - Steve Westly's relentless, multimillion-dollar barrage of television commercials pitching his campaign for governor appears to be paying political dividends. A Field Poll released today shows the former eBay executive from Atherton now has an 11-point advantage over his June Democratic primary opponent, Phil Angelides. Westly, the state controller, has had a dramatic, double-digit jump in support from potential voters across California over the past two months. He previously trailed Angelides, the state treasurer, by eight percentage points but now leads with 37 percent of the vote. What's more: Westly, at great expense to Angelides, has siphoned a significant...

(snip) Schwarzenegger has by all indications given up on balancing the budget. Although revenues are growing strongly, he seems bent on spending all of the new money and then some and projects a $6 billion operational deficit in his 2006-07 budget, with income-outgo gaps continuing indefinitely. He blames Capitol politics and mandated spending for the continuing deficits and says he needs the authority that voters refused to give him last year to unilaterally make spending cuts. Treasurer Phil Angelides, one of the Democratic hopefuls, insists that he has a plan to both close the deficit and "fully fund" public education,...

Immigration reform: Angelides said he would support placing some restrictions on which illegal immigrants are eligible to apply for citizenship, such as requiring that they have worked in this country for a certain period of time and that they learn English. _ Proposition 82, Rob Reiner's universal preschool initiative: Angelides supports it. He said entitlement programs such as public schooling and Social Security must be available to everyone or they will not have broad public support. On a Senate bill that would give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants: He supports the bill. The licenses would be a different color and...

The Democratic candidates for governor ratcheted up their rhetoric Wednesday in their first debate, as state Treasurer Phil Angelides belittled state Controller Steve Westly as a "twin" of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Westly shot back that Angelides "has never seen a tax he doesn't like." Angelides supports raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy to fully fund education. Westly has said he would do a better job of collecting taxes at the current level and try to get more money from the state lottery. Angelides also said Westly has supported raising taxes in a variety of ways. Westly supports Proposition...

With Republicans rallying to his cause, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has reclaimed a little more of his once-astronomical popularity, but winning re-election could still prove to be a tough slog. A poll released Tuesday by the Survey and Policy Research Institute at San Jose State University saw Schwarzenegger's approval rating climb to 45 percent among voters, up from 39 percent in January. Most of that momentum is fueled by higher rankings among the GOP faithful, some of whom had been alienated by the Republican governor's more centrist actions, and Democratic hires, since last year's failed special election. But Republicans seem to...

GOV. Arnold Schwarzenegger came up looking pretty good this week. That may not have been readily apparent from the results of a new poll that showed Californians give him a meager 37 percent approval rating. But the good news for the governor is that in a democratic system, the public grades on a curve, and his opponents are doing much worse. Things look even rosier for the governor's re-election prospects when only likely voters are considered. Forty-seven percent in that category think Schwarzenegger is doing a good job. The poll by the Public Policy Institute of California shows the deadlock...

Every decade or so, California experiences a watershed election year which realigns the state's cast of politicians - bringing some careers to an end and jump-starting others - and 2006 could be one of those events. Whether Arnold Schwarzenegger continues his governorship or becomes an idiosyncratic footnote to history is, of course, the biggest political question hanging over the state. But polls indicate that Schwarzenegger's political position is improving - in part because voters are giving him credit for trying to fix infrastructure - and his two would-be challengers, Treasurer Phil Angelides and Controller Steve Westly, have their own problems....

Sacramento -- Most voters do not blame Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for the failure of his popular rebuilding plan to make the June ballot, according to a new poll released today. The survey from the Public Policy Institute of California also found that a majority of voters said they would support Schwarzenegger over either of the leading Democratic challengers vying to face him in November -- state Treasurer Phil Angelides or Controller Steve Westly. The poll results are good news for the governor, who has seen his numbers tumble over the past year largely because of the unpopular special election he...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger does not face reelection for eight months, but on Monday the former Hollywood superstar began television advertising to bolster his lagging public support. Elected in 2003 in the first recall election in California's history, Schwarzenegger does not face any significant opposition in the June Republican primary in his effort to stay at the helm of America's most populous state. "This is part of our efforts to highlight what has happened over the last two years," Matthew Dowd, the campaign's chief strategist, told a media conference call. "This is sort of the start...

The 2006 political season may be creating some California history: a governor and lieutenant governor candidate running for election as a team. Not just a team in name — the Republican ticket — but in actual operation: coordinated messages, ads and schedules, including joint campaigning in conservative areas. The governor and lieutenant governor are elected separately in California. And although gubernatorial candidates often give lip service to cooperation, they have always ditched the "running mate" and sprinted off by themselves with their big bucks and own game plan. But Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Sen. Tom McClintock already have been...