Phil Angelides and Steve Westly in California for Governor:

[Pachamama]

"In California, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger faced no major primary competition and has benefited from a mean-spirited Democratic primary campaign between Treasurer Phil Angelides and Controller Steve Westly..." - statement on CNN this morning...

The Governator is loving this! Here he was sinking in the polls and all he had to do was simply a) keep a low profile b) not be seen with Bush c) let the Democrats shred eachother.

Instead of Angelides and Westly talking strictly about the issues (even if they are both the same) and showing the voters how "they" are the right one to defeat Schwarzenegger in November, they have viscerated eachother in the public forum and quite frankly turned off almost everyone, especially undecided voters.

I personally was never enthralled with Angelides after seeing him at a couple of fundraisers. I figured he was the "early" candidate and I'd wait to see who else entered the race. Then Westly entered and I actually have to say that I liked what he had to say. Angelides started attacking him and in one debate, I was so disgusted with Angelides not talking about himself but rather attacking Westly, that I decided right there and then that Westly was my choice. Westly was leading at the time too. Then Westly went negative. Then I got turned off.

But today I'm voting for Westly - and there is a basic fundamental reason and it should be why every Democrat should be voting for Westly today in California:

HE IS THE ONLY CANDIDATE OF THE TWO OF THEM THAT WILL BE ABLE TO BEAT AHNULD THIS NOVEMBER!

Westly can appeal to the Moderate Republicans who are dissatisfied with Ahnuld. He doesn't look like Howdy Dowdy (Angelides does - I want to just grab him by the ears) and Westly will be able to look good against Schwarzenegger. I have seen both men speak in person and Westly is in my opinion the only one of the two that can win this November.

So, fellow Californian Dems - ask yourself that question today - Who of these two can beet the Austrian Dipsh*t who can't even pronounce our state's name correctly? :eyes:

You Decide....at this point both these candidates are Pro-Choice, Pro-Environment, Anti-Bush, etc....So the real question is who can win in November against the right-wing machine...

[David__77]

1. I will vote for Angelides.

Westly "anti-tax" commercials running on Fox News made me want to puke. The truth is that the wealthy and corporations are NOT paying their fair share. They need their taxes raised as we have a critical need for funds for K-12 education, higher education, health care, and so on.

[Boo Boo]

4. Not sure I saw the "anti-tax" commercials. The ad I saw was rather

obviously worded to leave an out. He said something to the effect of "only raise taxes as a last resort." That's not a quote, but that's the substance of what he said. I think he knows revenues will have to increase. He has declared that Education will be his number one focus, and I don't see how you do that without addressing underfunding.

BTW, he taught at Stanford Graduate School (Business), and has a background in finance, CA Dem party politics, and management at Internet companies like eBay and Netcom, as well as being State Controller. I'm pretty sure he's sharp enough to know what it means when he says we have to invest in education.

I don't have anything against Angelides except that he didn't really campaign all that smart, spending a big chunk of money on direct mailing waaaay before people would be interested. He also went after Westly in a way that made me want to vote for Westly. Go figure.

I agree with the OP: Westly seems like the better guy to go after Arnold.

[Webster Green]

2. I think you are correct...

I was going to vote for Angelides because of Barbara Boxer's endorsement, but I think I've changed my mind.

We've got to get rid of Arnold the asshole.

[Pachamama]

8. The only reason that Angelides has Boxer & Feinsteins's endorsement is

because Angelides announced his candidacy over a year ago and months and months before Westly threw his hat into the Arena. I went to a fundraiser attended by Boxer and asked her about Angelides and Westly and she said whoever won she would throw her support behind. She confirmed that her endorsement of Angelides is because he was the only horse in the race at the time and they wanted to all show support behind the Democratic horse to take on Arnold.

[jackpan1260]

11. I did not know that. All the more reason for WESTLY!!!

[Pachamama]

13. If there was anything to be learned in campaign politics, its run early &

secure the key endorsements, thus taking them away from others!

Frankly, I think the whole "endorsement" game is BS....I mean, why can't Feinstein and Boxer for example say "hey, I think they are both great"....Because the shoe could have been on the other foot if Westly had announced early and the truth be known, the winner of the primary will get all the endorsements anyway from the same folks....

[huskerlaw]

15. Was that before or after

Boxer publicly denounced Westly's attack ads? :shrug:

[Pachamama]

17. It was 3 weeks ago - don't know when Westly's ads started.

But frankly, I don't think that would matter to Boxer....she will stand behind the winner and I know she likes both candidates. She is a neighbor and I see her regularly locally and at fundraisers. If I see her again, I'll ask her that very same question, but I'm pretty certain based on her comments before.

[huskerlaw]

18. I think she made the comment about the ads

last week.

Anyway, the tone of the ad (the Tahoe one specifically) apparently did matter to her, since she made a statement denouncing them.

[Boo Boo]

3. Yup. Voted for Westly. /nt

[orwell]

5. I will...

...vote for Westly as well, for many of the reasons cited above. Mainly, I think he has a better chance against the Governator.

Also, please vote for Jackie Speier for Lt. Gov.

[Pachamama]

10. Jackie Speier is Awesome! CA couldn't have a better Lt. Gov.!...

And even as future 1st Woman Governor!;)

[Clarkansas]

6. The polls certainly agree with your assessment.

I like both Westly and Angelides, but it is clear that Angelides is going to have a harder time beating Scharzenegger in the fall. I hope Westly wins the nomination.

[shanti]

7. ohhh, i'm sorry to hear that, pachamama

because i respect your posts. but i cannot vote for a man who is buddy buddy with you know who, and there's a picture out there to prove it. westly cannot be trusted.

my vote went to angelides.

[Pachamama]

12. Thanks for the nice post in response to mine!

It's always nice to see fellow DUers one runs into on the board and we acknowledge eachother and respect one another - even in our differences! :hug:

In terms of Westly being Buddy buddy with *, I'm sure there is a picture out there, maybe even multiple, but the reality is that could probably be said even of Boxer and any politician. I hope your wrong about Westly. I trust my instincts and "reads" on people and I think that Westly can be trusted and frankly that either men, Angelides or Westly, will be great Governors. But it really gets to that key point that I made which is keeping the focus on the brass ring - getting rid of Arnold this November and I am serious when I say that I think if Angelides is the challenger, then we are stuck with Arnold for another 4 years and I think those implications are far more serious than Westly or anyone for that matter being buds with *.

:hi:

I hope we are both right.....

[jackpan1260]

9. Im confident Westly can defeat Arnold, Im not so confident that Angelides

can do the same. All the polls back this up. They both are good candidates, but I am supporting Westly.

[huskerlaw]

14. I voted for Angelides

I was on the fence until I saw Westly's Rovian Lake Tahoe attack ad. It's a complete and utter distortion of the truth, and the Westly campaign essentially admits as much.

The ad implies that Angelides was sitting down at the edge of Lake Tahoe, helping his development buddies dump 1 million tons of dreck into the lake. That's completely untrue. Utter bullshit.

Which is why both Boxer and Feinstein have called Westly on it. Angelides is endorsed by the Sierra Club, for pete's sake. If he had any real involvement in the Lake Tahoe deal, they would be the first to smear him.

Now, if Westly wins the primary, I'll vote for him in the general. But since I have a choice at this point, I'm not voting for the guy whose ads look like he hired Karl Rove.

[Pachamama]

16. I don't disagree - read my original post about Westly having gone negative

Big mistake - Angelides originally was attacking Westly and Westly started taking off in the polls. Then Westly went negative with the Tahoe ads you mentioned and he dropped in the polls. This didn't sit well with me either. Some idiot in Westly's campaign thought it would be good and it clearly wasn't. I am very aware of the Tahoe deal - Angelides owned one condo development there and was one of many named defendents - the Westly ad is extremely misleading. But Angelides had his own smearing of Westly that was/is misleading and distasteful and frankly, he threw the "sludge" first. The Sierra Club endorsement of Angelides is also not significant because like his endorsements from Feinstein and Boxer, it was all because Angelides was in the race early and Westly and no other Dem was and Angelides was smart and secured all the endorsements early. But, all that is irrelevant as far as I'm concerned. Like I said, the candidates are both good, very similar in the key areas of a woman's right to choose, the environment, education, anti-Bush etc.

The key issue, question that every voter has to ask is this: Who can beat Schwarzenegger this fall? Angelides or Westly?

I say Westly - I say this because I've seen both men speak. I've met both men. I have spoken to moderate Republicans that can't stand Schwarzenegger. I've spoken to blue collar workers who are Dems who voted for the "Terminator" because they didn't like Gray Davis and thought "Arnold" was cool originally and now realize he was the wrong choice - All those people would choose Westly over Arnold but not Angelides. And guess what - the polls show the same thing. And as distasteful as you find the "Karl Rove inspired" ads that Westly is running - lets hope he can do that against Schwarzegger because whoever takes on Ahnuld is going to have to be ready to get dirty because you know the Repukes are coming to help him and don't want to lose CA.