Angelides beats Westly in race to challenge Schwarzenegger (California)

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Full article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/06/07/politics/p011527D13.DTL

Great news!

Special interest money fuels too many Democratic candidates. Of course the Republicans are certainly beholden to their hatchet men for which they do their bidding.
But, as to Angelides/Westley. Westley was far to friendly to Arni for my tastes. He was cowardly about the state's budget crisis that will seen re-emerge with a vegence. Of course Angelides has his money coffers; but Westley's was less balanced by pro-labor sources. My beef. Image making. Westley dissed Democratic grass roots organizations as being party hacks. That is a lie. Go to a Democratic party organization. It speaks to it's grassroots. And Westley had the gaul to dis Democratic activists.
Sen. BOxer knows who is more beholden to the grassroots and hence her endorsement of Angelides. I know Westley is hardly the first Calif. pol with a golden spoon in his mouth.
It is time for unity and Westley could have a future in the California Democratic party , because he is hardly right wing. Just I am dissing a rotten campaign fundraising mechanism that often corrupts all who touch it.
Glad that corrupt money did not cause the grassroots players to be oustracized, when they are more in the know: compared to a public that gets most of it's opinions from tv ads as enlightning as toothpaste advertisement.

Take some solace from our passing of "measure T" here in Humboldt County (California north coast). It bans corporate money in campaigns from outside this county. While this is not likely to affect the November Gubernatorial campaign in any direct or major way this battle seems like a significant win in the war against corporate fascism to me.


fas-cism (fash-is-em) n. A system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with a belligerent nationalism.
-The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

The US supreme court has not ruled corporate dollars equals free speech. Don't be surprised they overturn..

Well, it looks like anyone the state Dem party put
it's pre-stamped approval on won. It's difficult
in our gerrymandered and incumbent-safe districts
to elect people with real courage and vision who
will vote outside the party box. I understand why
people are disenchanted with the system.

So it's ok now for a candidate to live outside
the district and win more votes or for a candidate
to get most of his funding from two people in the
same family or to funnel funds to his campaign through
a proposition while sitting as a state official.

Yeah, count me out. I'm not in a party mood.

sorry, Steve did not impress me at all, and his commercials were just plain stupid.

They way the conducted themselves during this primary election was not in the best interest of the party. The negative, bitter tone was awful to watch and the voters of Ca seem to have a sour taste in their mouths, as less than 2 million of them bothered to even vote.

They needed to inspire this electorate to work together for a better California and not just choose the lesser to two evils.

Hopefully, the tone will change now and Dems can start inspiring and motivating people to go to the poles and change the direction of this State by ousting Arnie.

I'm so disappointed in this primary campaign. I feel they've cost the nominee the election in November. Arnie has gone from being a pariah to being the favorite in the race. You don't need to 'fix' elections when the state party is run like this. x(

endorsement of Angelides was by a majority of votes - had to be in excess of 60% - 2 get the party's endorsement. It was NOT 'pre-stamped'. BTW, Angelides got 68% of the delegates vote. I was one of the delegates

I am as grassroots as anyone here, hardly a party hack, and I have been campaigning for Angelides for over a year. Had a fundraiser house party for him a year ago. I was drawn 2 him because his policy proposals are well thought out, he knows how 2 finance them. His policiy proposals have expanded and improved over the lat year.

Not party bosses; but party activists like those who attend monthly party functions and in the know. These people are not boss contolled , but grassroots people. Attend a regular function and see for yourself.
I have and NO one pulls my strings. Even been to state conventions. I am sure party hierachy would much prefer we were more controllable. Grassroots party people are normally the ones who know issues and positions taken by office holders, long before the image makers hit us with tv ads.

:thumbsup: knew he could do it.

from an analysis also on the SF Chronicle site
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/07/MNG2KJ8RLP9.DTL&type=politics

Angelides is probably gonna get killed. I could be wrong, of course -- hell, I usually am -- but Angelides is a pretty weak candidate. Saying he would raise taxes probably didn't help matters, even if he merely said he would raise taxes on the rich. To the GOP, that is exquisite ammunition.

attack Arnie with Enron...dig into his connection with Enron and the recall...there's lots of dirt there...and we Californians are still about getting ripped off from Enron...

"energy crisis" AND Bush. There's video of Arnie hugging * at the RNC, Arnie hugging * in Ohio, ...

from Greg Palast is most telling of Arnie's connection with Enron and the recall that put Arnie in the Gov.'s seat...

then they are pretty weak. There is plenty to hang arni high.

I hope his name is mud to anyone in the Democratic Party from here on out.

"When it comes to Angelides, it would be hard to single out his biggest liability because he's a walking Achilles heel," said Garry South, the chief strategist for the Westly campaign. "Arnold and his Karl Rove-trained wrecking crew will tear the guy apart, atom by atom...he won't know what hit him."

Is that why Angelides won--because YOU found it "too hard" to single out any of his liabilites? So why should I believe that YOU would have been able to handle "Rove's wrecking crew" in your sleep??? Whose side are you on?

:eyes:
rocknation

Westly would appeal to more disaffected centrists and Repubs than Angelides will.

Gary South should shut up, regardless.

such remarks could get him accused of "throwing" the Westly campaign at Rove's request because Angelides would be easier to beat.

:headbang:
rocknation

I then got the yard sign out of my garage and put it up. I had some local races in my yard during the past weeks that are now over and have been taken down.

Lets say it again yeah Diebold and Arnold...what a team! Does anyone really think that Arnold will lose?

More big money corporate guys is all it is about like Angelides and Westly themselves!

It's an off-year election, I've a feeling Bush's numbers will be further in the toilet than they are right now and I think lots of Republican voters might be staying home. Now, if the "I'm going to vote for the 'Terminator'" bunch doesn't show up in droves, we actually have a better than decent chance to re-gain the governorship. RE: Diebold. Until we get a new Secretary of State (we're working on that one), we won't be able to address the Diebold problem so it looks like we'll be stuck with those machines for at least one more election cycle.

The mass media did an impressive job of shoveling manure on Angelides and they and Westly's deep pockets couldn't stop the voters from getting the real message of who was the real Democratic candidate. If Angelides can beat all this, Arnold doesn't stand a chance.

Let's start the campaigning NOW. Circulate this speech that Angeldies gave at the Democratic convention and show people that Angelides is not only a true progressive, he is a gifted speaker.

http://azul.streamguys.com/angelides/Phil%20Angelides%20-%20CA%20Democratic%20Convention.wmv


The other thing I would like to remind people is that when Gray Davis was governor and Bush first cut taxes on the wealthy, Davis raised taxes on the rich to make up the state shortfall as did most other states' governors. The very wealthy and corporations got a $17 billion tax-cut - they have a responsibility to pay more.

positive approach to whipping the gropenator in Nov.

From what I read on DU I was surprised that Angelides won! I don't live in California anymore but Angelides was my first choice.

and a real connection to working people in real life, not just a lot of money and a virtual campaign on the internet.

I think a lot of people got seduced by the Westly campaign but will find that Angelides is not at all like how he's been painted. I urge Westly supporters to GO TO A RALLY and see Angelides and LISTEN to him speak. Angelides is going to re-energize the Democratic Party in California and no one who is a Democrat or progressive should miss it, because it's going to be a party (as in fun)!

Now we get to go after Arnie's backers - the same people who brought you Enron - with someone who won't pull his punches - with someone who has faith that we, the people, want justice and fairness and an end to the corruption.

It's as simple as that.

Educate A Freeper - Flaunt Your Opinions!
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Amen!

And what a disappointment that Dianne garnered so much support in winning her own race. What are people thinking?? Are they not paying attention?

In the endorsement announcement that Feinstein gave for Angiledes, she answered a reporter's question indicating that she thought that the telecom companies who gave out personal information on their customers were "just being good citizens" and that they didn't need to be punished.... or words to that effect.

We know she's fellating large corporations, but who would have expected her to be so transparent? And no one was paying attention, apparently.

Does that figure? I count on Sen. Boxer to know who the progressive is.

Boxer makes mistakes, Feinstein always knows what side her bread is buttered.




Educate A Freeper - Flaunt Your Opinions!
http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13

"mistakes" but just because feinstein endorsed Angelides does not make him like her.

I didn't say it made him like her. I've never heard Feinstein support anyone that I support. She's on the wrong side of at least 80% of the issues I care about, so her support for another candidate tells me that I'll most likely be about 80% against them too.

much power.

Angelides being friendlier to progressives. Feinstein knows she is in trouble over Iraq, some judiciary nominee votes, etc.
Knowing Angelides favored by unions, progressives- she endorsed him to cover up some lousy votes and try to make bridges to progressives.

in this state, I thought Westly was way to right like a DINO. Now we have a proud liberal to run against the Schwarts.

Yay Labor!

And a very much Yeah Labor.

on edit: typo

We have to unseat Ah-nuld !

Republican primary vote. Westly and Angelides got about 91% of the Democratic vote combined. It's going to be a bumpy ride I fear.

He had no credible primary opponents, for one thing. Undervotes don't get counter as part of the 100% total also.

In my county (Sacramento), 22.8% of registered Republicans cast a vote for Schwarzenegger.

In this county, 15.5% of registered Democrats cast a vote for Angelides, and 12.1% for Westly. That's a total of 27.6%. I know this was a contested primary, but the level of negativity drove down Democratic participation. Disaffected Republicans simply didn't show up.

I do not underestimate the challenges faced by Angelides, but there are many positive factors in his arsenal, and he will not face intra-Party acrimony like has been the case recently.

I'm not surprised. Just look at Doolittle and Pombo. Both these men, facing allegations (and evidence) of corruption and fraud, were chosen again - in a landslide by Republican voters. It carried over to Arnie, I guess. They were saying that this primary had the lowest voter turnout EVER. Maybe the general election will bring more balance.

neighborhood say they don't like him and they aren't voting for him.

:shrug:

It's a shame Marcy Winograd couldn't take down BIGGGGGG Jane Harmen. Oh well, we'll just have to keep harping on Jane.

politics, altho I walked precincts for Marcy and attended a couple small neighborhood street demos for her (at Centinela and Venice Blvds). So I'm not sure how to interpret Marcy's 38.5% -- a part of me thinks it's a huge "moral victory," especially with turnout so depressed. But there's another part of me that wonders whether 38.5% against an incumbent is significant.

Anyone reading this have any insights on that?

debating Angelides.

That asshole had to be arm twisted to debate a couple years ago, but only after the questions were already known to him.

The same will probably happen again. THe sad POS has to memorize the answers and would not be able to answer a single unknown question completely.

This sucker Gropenator knows jack shit. People are fucking stupid.

I like Angelides, but to be honest he is pretty goofy looking on camera. Seriously, the guy is not very photogenic at all. I really do hope people can look past his homely looks though, because he does has some great things to say.

But given the importance of image especially in this state, Westly was clearly the more marketable candidate...and probably would had a significantly better chance going up against the Gropenator.

he's HOT!

Wish it were not so.