California governor race – an odd ad campaign to go with an odd Democratic candidate

By: Steve Yuhas

Most of the attention this election cycle is being paid to the control of Congress with Democrats hoping to take control of at least the House of Representatives and hopeful that they can do the same in the Senate.  Less looked at is the race for governor of California where the incumbent, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, is running against Phil Angelides – the California State Treasurer.  The race in the very blue state of California is interesting because Angelides should easily be leading or at least close in the polls with likely voters, but his support is weakening rather than increasing and now the uphill battle that Angelides was facing in the beginning has grown to an almost insurmountable mountain.

Polls show Schwarzenegger leading Angelides by more than 17 points.  Angelides fought a bitter battle during a Democratic primary where he was described by his own Democratic opponent as anything but governor material so the GOP did not even have to characterize him – Democrats did that for them. 

More bad news for Angelides is that according to the Public Policy Institute of California poll taken at the end of September – Angelides cannot even count on his own party for support.  The same people that decided that he would be the Democratic candidate are the same and only people supporting him today.

The polling data is interesting: 70% of Californians believe that Schwarzenegger will be re-elected, 16% of Democrats favored Schwarzenegger over Angelides, and almost 80% of Republicans remain behind the GOP candidate and the all important Independent voters in the state support Schwarzenegger over Angelides by 51%.  These numbers make the battle for governor almost a sure bet for the GOP governor that has upset conservatives in the state for his social policies, but brought the state from the brink of bankruptcy and passed legislation that Democrats and moderate Republicans supported – all without raising taxes.

The difference between the candidates is not just their charisma (Angelides is sort of like toast without butter), but there is definite difference in what each candidate believes this race is about.

The Schwarzenegger campaign is talking about continuing to move California forward by continuing the economic boom that has taken the state from a laughable economy to a robust one and keeping the momentum into the future.

Angelides has a confused view of the state-wide race as he and the Democratic Party machine backing him say that the election for governor of California is about the war in Iraq, gas prices and the national debt.

The commercial most seen by California voters is one put out by the Democratic Party that shows Schwarzenegger at the Republican National Convention giving a speech supporting President Bush.  Intermingled in the commercial are statistics about the number of troops in Iraq, the high price of gasoline and the national debt; but nothing about being the governor of California.

Far be it from me to tell the Angelides what the job he is seeking is all about, but in the spirit of the High Holy days I will help him out a little: it is not about national security and the number of troops in Iraq, it is not about the high price of gasoline (a problem that faces Californians more than any other because of the boutique fuel that is only produced for this state so no imports from states with surplus fuel is allowed) and it is certainly not about the national debt (Angelides should know that considering he presided over a nearly bankrupt state budget while serving as treasurer).

If California was Enron not only would Gray Davis, the recalled former governor, have been thrown out of office, but he and Angelides would be sharing a cell right now.

Outside of the fact that Democrats describe Angelides as a tax and spend liberal who, if elected, will raise taxes on the very things that he is complaining about (gasoline), but if you listen to him speak and his commercials – he doesn’t seem to understand the job description of governor. 

Angelides is running for President while Schwarzenegger is running for re-election as California’s governor.

The governor has no ability to withdraw troops from Iraq, but Angelides’ commercials make it appear that he can, the only thing the governor of California can do about gas prices is rid our state of the ridiculous boutique gasoline forced onto gas station and refineries that force the price of gas to always be high in the Golden State.  Then there are the enormous taxes on gasoline that have helped balance the budget; taxes that would increase under Angelides making gas more costly – not less.  As for the national debt – who knows what Democrats are thinking when they bring that up considering that their candidate was the guy signing the checks when California looked like Enron.

Running for governor in California is expensive and a reasonable person would think that Angelides would spend his money by telling the people of California what he intends to do if he is elected – none of us know that yet.  All we know is that his campaign is trying to link the number of troops in Iraq, the price of gasoline (that continues to fall) and the national debt to the governor of one state.

Someone should tell Democrats that it is not the governor who sends the military to war and it is not the governor who controls the falling gas prices or the national debt; those are issues for the federal government – not the state.

Perhaps Angelides is having trouble in the polls because he simply doesn’t know what office he is running for yet.  Part of his lackluster appeal could be because people are not stupid and know that he is running ads about things over which Schwarzenegger has no control and part of it could be that he has no vision – not unlike his national counterparts who are running for office against President Bush instead of telling their constituents what they are “for.”

We know that Democrats don’t like and are opposed to the policies of President Bush, but it is high time for Democrats to tell the people voting this November what they would do differently.  Simply running ads talking about how much they hate Bush is not enough to claim a victory.  Sure – some idiots may still vote for them, but when crunch time comes people know where Republicans stand and in the largest state in the union we have no idea where the man who Democrats decided to be their standard bearer does on any issues except abortion and the typical Democratic mantra of the importance of organized labor.

My advice: pull the ad that has Angelides running for President and create one of him running for governor – I know they won’t listen because with nearly 20 points separating Schwarzenegger from his trailing candidate maybe Democrats think that linking Schwarzenegger with Bush is their last hope.  But, if they read their own polls since that ad has been airing Schwarzenegger has gone up - not down.

I guess running for the wrong office is not a good strategy when it comes to getting elected, but maybe Angelides doesn’t want to win or the Democrats actually like Schwarzenegger more than their own candidate – whatever the case it looks like the biggest blue state in the country will once again have a red constitutional government.  For the GOP that is a good thing, but one has to wonder if Democrats see it as a bad thing that in one of the bluest states in the nation they can’t get their guy close to the governor’s office.

Steve Yuhas is a radio talk show host on NewsRadio 600 KOGO in southern California and may be reached at steve@steveyuhas.com or www.steveyuhas.com