California gubernatorial debate

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (right) Endorses Phil Angelides for California Governor

Democratic candidate Phil Angelides and Gov. Schwarzenegger had their first and only scheduled TV debate on Saturday. Held by the California Broadcasters Assocation, it was the most poorly-moderate TV debate I've ever seen. The format allowed for open-ended responses, which should have been a natural advantage for Schwarzenegger, who had incentive to run out the clock, while Angelides needed to get more voters familiar with him and his campaign themes.

To my pleasant surprise as a Democrat, Angelides managed to make good use of his opportunity, while Schwarzenegger surprisingly passed up opportunities to take much longer time on his answers. Angelides hammered home several basic themes by repeating them in various forms in answers to several questions.

Angelides stressed Schwarzenegger's record fundraising among business interests. For instance, when the subject was disaster-preparedness with particular reference to the levees in the Sacramento delta, Angelides talked about how Scwharzenegger supported developers who wanted to build housing developments in high-risk flood areas and linked it to Schwarzenegger's heavy support from the building industry.

Angelides also mentioned Schwarzenegger's connections to Bush and even brought Denny Hastert and Newt Gingrich up at some point to try to puncture Schwarzenegger's "bipartisan" schtick that he's pushed during the campaign. If there was one "gotcha" in the debate that I saw, it came when Schwarzenegger more-or-less apologized for his failed ballot initiatives last year that were, among other things, aimed at cutting pensions benefits for public employees, in particular firefighters, cops and nurses. This was meant to emphasize his "bipartisanship". But he said in the process that they had been good ideas. So Angelides jumped on that to say, see, Scharzenegger still thinks those are good ideas so after the election you can expect him to go after our first-responders, police and firefighters, again.

(news and opinion articles linked below the fold)


The biggest problem I've seen for the Angelides campaign has been not any deficiency in his own effort or any particular virtue of Schwarzenegger's. It's been that the Democratic leaders in the legislature willing went along with Schwarzeneggger's high-profile "bipartisan" events in which he signed Demcratic-sponsored bills in very public events to emphasize his "moderation", while he might his rightwing Republican vetoes quietly. This effort to distance himself from Bush and his own Republican Party would never have been so effective if the Democratic legislative leaders hadn't been willing patsies for it.

See reports on the debate in:
Taxes Take Center Stage in Gov. Debate: Schwarzenegger depicts his foe as a big spender. Angelides compares his rival to Bush, Hastert by Michael Finnegan and Mark Barabak Los Angeles Times 10/08/06

Dueling priorities offered for state by Kevin Yamamura Sacramento Bee 10/08/06

Exponen metas para California: En su debate, Schwarzenegger y Angelides revelan diferencias sobre el futuro del estado de Araceli Martínez-Ortega La Opinión 10/08/06.

Angelides is finally on equal footing with governor by Mark Martin San Francisco Chronicle 10/07/06

Debate focuses on taxes, tuition: Candidates draw sharp contrasts by Kate Folmar and Mike Zapler San Jose Mercury News 10/08/06

Candidates debate on tax policy: Schwarzenegger, Angelides also spar on college costs in only meeting of campaign by Carla Marinucci and Tom Chorneau San Francisco Chronicle 10/07/06

Home-run hit eludes Angelides by Dan Walters Sacramento Bee 10/08/06

The Spin Cycle - Debate wrapup by Carla Marinucci San Francisco Chronicle Politics blog 10/07/06

Angelides comes up short in debate: Schwarzenegger avoids stumbles in debate by Steven Harmon San Jose Mercury News 10/08/06

Tags: angelides, california politics, schwarzenegger

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