The final countdown"Candidates dashed across California on Sunday in
a final burst of campaigning at churches, restaurants and rallies as thousands of volunteers besieged voters with phone calls and front-porch pleas for support in Tuesday's election," report Michael Finnegan and Seema Mehta in the Times.
"Republican Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and his Democratic challenger, state Treasurer
Phil Angelides, crossed paths midday at an Inland Empire memorial for firefighters killed in the Esperanza fire last month in Riverside County."
"Apart from that somber break from the campaign frenzy, the gubernatorial rivals led the battles of their respective parties to gain a last-minute edge in races that are testing the strength of the Democratic Party's dominance in California."
"Secretary of State
Bruce McPherson projects that
44% of the votes cast in the election will be by absentee ballot. By Friday afternoon, the ballots of at least 1.8 million voters had already reached county election offices.
"Overall, turnout is expected to be modest.
Roughly 8.7 million — or 55% — of California's 15.8 million registered voters are likely to cast ballots by the time polls close at 8 p.m., McPherson said. That would put turnout
above the 51% of four years ago, when Gov. Gray Davis won reelection, but below the 60% of October 2003, when voters recalled Davis and replaced him with Schwarzenegger."
We might beat turnout of the
Gray Davis-Bill Simon death match? You don't suggest...
"Democratic state Treasurer
Phil Angelides, speaking Sunday to an enthusiastic union crowd in Burlingame, said he's '
ready to fight, ready to win and ready to take back California' in Tuesday's election for governor," writes John Wildermuth in the Chron.
"Although polls show him running far behind Republican Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Angelides was upbeat as he addressed about 100 cheering supporters at the Machinists Union hall, arguing that the anticipated Democratic surge across the nation will carry him to victory."
"'Come 8:01 p.m. Nov. 7, the Democratic wave is going to crest in California,' he said. 'We're going to beat Arnold Schwarzenegger and take our state back.'"
What year is he talking about?
And, the message still has not changed:
"The election comes down to 'a choice between
George Bush's and Arnold Schwarzenegger's vision of the world and of California, where you heap more on those who have the most and hope the leftovers fall down to the rest, and our vision ... where you create a society for the many and not the few.'"
Carla Marinucci looks into
what's next for Schwarzenegger. "'Should [the governor] win re-election -- and polls put him in a commanding lead -- Schwarzenegger's bounce back from unpopularity a year ago will show how California "has always been a trendsetter,' [political consultant
Ed] Rollins said. Politically, 'it's always two to six years ahead of the rest of the country.'"
So, what? Jean Claude Van Damme for Oklahoma governor in 2012?
"'Certainly, Schwarzenegger's custom-blended 2006 political recipe for success has been developed with some unusual forces at play: For one, he is a politician who doesn't necessarily have to worry about winning a next term -- though top advisers now say, tellingly,
that a run at the U.S. Senate in the future is 'not off the table.'"
What about pope? The guy's a Catholic, right?
"Somebody else who tries to emulate the ideological spasticity of Arnold Schwarzenegger, as a Republican, is going to have to deal with the fact that they will probably have to run in a real primary -- and not be a known movie star,'' says GOP strategist
Jon Fleischman, publisher of the popular Flashreport.org, a conservative political Web site."
A real primary that produces nominees like
Dick Mountjoy.
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is so confident of his re-election that he's already planning to
make a run for the border Wednesday," report Matier and Ross.
"Not for a vacation, mind you, but to promote California tourism and the state's newest export: environmental technology."
George Skelton
dissects the Schwarzenegger comeback. "The dissecting is easy. A post-mortem — especially this one — isn't brain surgery."
"We've just witnessed a brilliant comeback by a governor who, only a year ago, seemed to have one foot in the political grave. Rebellious voters emphatically rejected his 'reform' initiatives at a special election that wasted $54 million of tax money."
"Back then, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was viewed unfavorably by a majority of voters and trailed Treasurer Phil Angelides by six percentage points in a hypothetical election matchup, the Field Poll found. By last week, the governor had rebounded to be favorably regarded by most voters and was leading Angelides by 16 points."
"How'd this come to pass?"
"Start with the magic words rarely spoken by a politician:
I'm sorry."
The Bee's Aurelio Rojas
looks into the coattail effect and the beginning of Democratic damage assessment. "'I think the biggest impact the governor is going to have is the commitment his campaign has made to get out the vote,' said
Duf Sundheim, chairman of the state Republican Party."
"Besides [
Tom] McClintock, the three GOP candidates given the best chances of winning are
Steve Poizner (insurance commissioner),
Bruce McPherson (secretary of state) and
Tony Strickland (controller). If the conservative McClintock or moderate Poizner wins, political observers say either could become a front-runner for the GOP gubernatorial nomination" in 2010.
And, then there's the Antonio issue.
"After declaring on Sept. 5 that he would 'work day and night' to help Angelides get elected, [LA mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa] spent much of the next two months out of state and did not appear with the Democratic candidate until recently. Villaraigosa, through a spokesman, declined to comment on allegations he did not campaign more vigorously for Angelides because of his gubernatorial ambitions."
"But Núñez defended his friend. The mayor, he said, made more appearances with Anglides than other Democrats who have not received as much media scrutiny."
"'
When is the last time the mayor of the city of Los Angeles was responsible for electing a Democratic nominee for governor?' Núñez said. 'I think there's a lot of misdirected blame here, and I think it's unwarranted.'"
Don't worry, Fabian. Plenty of Democrats are throwing some at your feet, too.
"Monday morning quarterbacking has been rampant in Democratic circles, where fear has grown with each poll that a landslide victory by Schwarzenegger could cost the party seats on powerful state pension boards and commissions that go to constitutional officers.
"'A lot of people are asking, 'What went wrong?' ' said Assemblyman Speaker
Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles. '
But I think it's too early to say that.'"
...particularly when the answer will inevitably point to the willingness of legislative Democrats to give the governor several victories.
The U-T's Logan Jennkins
ponders Duncan Hunter's presidential run. "Does this conservative – very conservative – congressman, a virtual unknown outside San Diego and the Beltway, really think he will storm his way into the White House?
On reflection, Hunter's hubris appears less goofy than calculated.
Hunter may act like one from time to time, but he's no dummy.
You have to figure he has a Plan B – and a Plan C – if Plan A peters out, which it most certainly will."
With early
apologies to anyone who may be eating breakfast, looks like the election party started early in El Cerrito when police
arrested a naked man for carrying a concealed weapon. That's right. Don't ask.
"
John Sheehan, 33, of Pittsburg, was initially arrested on suspicion of indecent exposure. But when asked whether he was carrying anything police should know about, Sheehan mentioned the tool, said El Cerrito Detective Cpl. Don Horgan.
'You can't get much more concealed than that,' Horgan said.
Officers drew their weapons and firefighters were called to the scene. Sheehan removed a 6-inch metal awl wrapped in black electrical tape without incident."