Would you vote for this man? Not many will.

California’s Democratic party has learned once again how not to win a gubernatorial race. It is certain that they will once again lose in a most-decidedly Democratically state. How?

1. Failing to find a candidate worth supporting. Phil Angelides is not only a poor choice for governor, he is by all accounts a rather unlikable guy. And that’s only if you get to know him which most people don’t. The most common association with his name is almost certainly “Phil who?”. Even Angelides notes that voters “do not know me.” Not the kind of thing you want to hear after a full year of campaigning.

2. Failing to support said candidate when the chips are down. Even the golden state’s strong unions haven’t bothered supporting Angelides. Sensing a loser, they’ve held important funds back from him. Not only does that deprive him of vital television advertising, what kind of message does it send when even the powerful teacher’s union (who absolutely hate the incumbent) don’t want to “waste” money on the challenger. The refrain is to avoid letting him pull down other Democrats as happened in the 1994 train wreck.

3. Failing to get the real support of powerful Democrats. Related to #3 above, the big names have steered clear of Angelides. Antonio Villaraigosa only grudgingly gave his endorsement to Angelides but to anyone paying attention he’s clearly only too happy to see Angelides go down in flames. While Angelides has been attacking the incumbent governor, Villaraigosa has been doing photo ops with him. Even Villaraigosa’s announcement that he would support Angelides turned into a debacle. In trying to show that he was pro-education (which in California is code for “pro-teachers union”), Angelides used up student class time to promote his campaign to kids too young to vote and whose UTLA teachers had coached into making pro-Angelides chants. Villaraigosa was bailed out of the debacle when a young girl fainted and instead of being photographed on stage with a soon-to-be losing candidate he got his image captured giving assistance to the girl while Angelides droned on and on. Even more telling, during the crucial weeks leading up to election day, where is California’s most popular Democrat? Across the world in China on an extended trip.

4. Failing to have a consistent strategy. This should be the easiest part. The state is so overwhelmingly Democratic that it really should have been Angelides race to lose. However, his most recent strategy is to try to align Schwarzenegger with Bush and somehow tie in Iraq. As we in California like to say, “we may be stupid, but we’re not dumb.” It’s clear to even the bluest of the blue that this is a political smokescreen and an act of desperation. Even worse, it’s such an easy charge for Schwarzenegger to refute. He even turned it into a joke on the Jay Leno Show, “To link me to George Bush is like linking me to an Oscar.” That is witty and makes great newspaper copy. Even more, it’s a statement that voters (even California voters) can understand. What does the whiny Angelides campaign respond? It sends a dozen or so “supporters” down to the show’s taping to chant “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Schwarzenegger’s got to go.” (Not really the kind of thing to win over swing voters.)

5. Getting caught being slimy. In a state already smarting over privacy, pretexting, and corporate spying, don’t have your campaign get caught grabbing things off of the governor’s website and “anonymously” leaking to the press. This move was universally condemned and made Angelides look even sleazier than he had before.

Think we are exaggerating? Look at this LAT headline from October 9th.

“Angelides Seen as a Drag on the Party”.

Ouch.

Update: The LA Times has now endorsed Schwarzenegger. (h/t: Patterico)

tags: angelides schwarzenegger california

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 15th, 2006 at 9:24 pm by Insider and is filed under Election 2008 Live Team Coverage!, California Schemin'. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.