"A
Field Poll released today shows [
Steve Westly,] the former eBay executive from Atherton[,]
now has an 11-point advantage over his June Democratic primary opponent,
Phil Angelides," reports Edwin Garcia for the Merc News.
The Angelides team scrambled to respond to the news late yesterday, and released a memo by Fairbanks, Maslin, Maullin & Associates stating "Despite outspending Phil Angelides by nearly two million dollars on television, including over one million in just the last month, Steve Westly has not advanced his position in this race." The memo points to the Westly campaign's poll conducted in early March and polls in late March conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California and Survey and Policy Research Institute.
Back to Garcia's article. "Westly, the state controller, has had a dramatic, double-digit jump in support from potential voters across California over the past two months. He previously trailed Angelides, the state treasurer,
but now leads with 37 percent of the vote."
"What's more: Westly, at great expense to Angelides, has
siphoned a significant share of Democratic voters who were undecided about which candidate they would choose in the June 6 election.
However, 34 percent still remain undecided."
"
Westly has gained 19 percentage points since the last Field Poll in February, while Angelides has remained stagnant at 26 percent."
"The widening gap occurred at a time when most voters were learning about the politicians through 30-second television spots."
"'It appears that Westly's ads are being much better received,' said Field Poll director
Mark DiCamillo. 'That's the only conclusion I can make.'"
Or maybe even Democrats are not thrilled about Angelides's message, which seems to be centered around
a willingness to raise taxes. "No major candidate has been more public than Angelides about increasing taxes. His enthusiasm is tempered only by a focus on targeting the wealthy and corporations, not ordinary Californians, to increase public school funding and balance the state budget," writes the Times' Robert Salladay.
Whatever it is, now that he apparently has the lead, Westly wants everyone to play nice. In a letter to Angelides, he called on both candidates to pledge to run a positive campaign.
Angelides campaign manager
Cathy Calfo responded with a letter that sought to "remind you of your many personal attacks against the Treasurer, dating back to the day you announced your candidacy more than nine months ago."
"We look forward to a full and positive debate on the candidate's records..."
Sounds like an official "go screw yourself" to us...
Andy Furillo
looks into the poll results for the general election for the Bee. "Schwarzenegger's positives continue in head-to-head match-ups with the Democrats. The poll found him
tied with Westly, 43 percent to 43 percent (the Republican governor trailed the controller, 41 percent to 37 percent, in February) and
beating Angelides, 44 percent to 40 percent (up from a 39-39 tie in February)."
"'We're pleased and optimistic with where the governor currently stands with California voters,' said Schwarzenegger campaign spokeswoman
Julie Soderlund."
While the Democrats were busily responding to the Field Poll pre-release, the governor was using the incumbent's advantage and
looking at potential areas of flooding. "During his brief flight, Schwarzenegger saw sandbagging and levee patching that have held floodwater out of Firebaugh in west Fresno County."
"Even though the flood threat had eased in the past 48 hours, the governor wanted to get a closer look at Fresno County, which he declared Monday to be in a state of emergency along with Amador, Calaveras, Merced, San Joaquin, San Mateo and Stanislaus counties."
"Nine more counties were added to the state of emergency Thursday - Alameda, El Dorado, Kings, Marin, Placer, Santa Cruz, Sonoma, Tulare and Tuolumne."
Now that the
Susan Kennedy flap has largely run out of steam, Republican activists have a new target for their anger--
Joe Nuñez. Nuñez, who heads governmental relations for the California Teachers Association, was recently appointed to the State Board of Education by Schwarzenegger, shortly after leading the Alliance for Better California campaign that fought the governor in the special election last year.
"Among all Schwarzenegger appointees to state government jobs, regulatory boards and commissions — more than 2,000 in all —
about 54% have been Republicans. The rest are Democrats and independents, with a handful from minor political parties," writes Robert Sallady in the Times.
"The reappointment of Nuñez, who first joined the board under Democratic Gov.
Gray Davis, was so startling that former Senate leader
John Burton, who knows the governor well, refused to believe it when first told.
Jon Fleischman, a Republican activist who runs a politics website, said dismissively: 'My kindergarten teacher would be a better appointee to the state Board of Education than Joe Nuñez … and I don't even know how she was registered.'"
"
Margita Thompson, spokeswoman for the governor, and union President Barbara Kerr said there was no agreement with Schwarzenegger to soften its position in exchange for Nuñez's reappointment. Kerr, who personally lobbied the governor to retain Nuñez during a private meeting in December, said: 'I am sure you can look it as being odd, but there is nothing really behind it except he was a good choice.'"
"The appointment, in fact, did little to soften the political bickering."
"A day after Schwarzenegger announced Nuñez's appointment, the Alliance for a Better California filed a
complaint with the state Fair Political Practices Commission seeking sanctions against the governor. An appeals court ruled last week that the governor's California Recovery Team failed to report independent expenditures on time."
"In a press release announcing the action, Nuñez chastised the governor's campaign for 'egregious violations of the law.' His group is asking for $25 million in fines against Schwarzenegger."
Proposition 82 got another Democratic opponent yesterday.
John Burton announced his opposition to the measure in a memo sent to reporters.
"
The people behind Proposition 82 have their hearts in the right place, but the initiative itself has serious flaws that voters should reject it in June," Burton said. "Proposition 82 won't accomplish what it wants to accomplish, and it will tie the state's hands in meeting other vital needs like aid for the elderly, blind and disabled."
