Posted on 01/08/2007 7:53:20 AM PST by SmithL
Phil Angelides delivered his swan song last week, checking out as state treasurer and perhaps ending a lifelong quest for high office.
While Angelides didn't rule out running for political office again -- in fact, he seemed to embrace the notion -- whether he could do so is problematic, given the drubbing he took in his bid for the governorship in an otherwise strong Democratic year.
Running against an incumbent governor is certainly difficult; in fact, just one governor in modern history, Culbert Olson in 1942, has been denied a second term. But Angelides' campaign was especially inept, and he was buried in a landslide.
Angelides will return to private life and, perhaps, await another opportunity to run for something. And while he touts his eight-year tenure as treasurer, saying, "We transformed the treasurer's office into a force for progress," the political lesson may be that down-ballot state offices are not always powerful steppingstones.
Angelides was the second treasurer to run for governor in recent years, and like the first, Kathleen Brown in 1994, was a landslide loser. They joined the growing ranks of "constitutional officers" to fall by the wayside in bids for higher office.
Yes, some have made it to the top. Two attorneys general, Pat Brown in 1958 and George Deukmejian in 1982, became governor, while Brown's son, Jerry, segued into the governorship in 1974 from the secretary of state's office. Jerry Brown's one-time chief of staff, Gray Davis, was elected governor in 1998 after stints as state controller and lieutenant governor.
But at least as many constitutional officers have stumbled along the way, either failing to make it through their party primaries or being rejected after winning nominations. Angelides defeated Controller Steve Westly for the Democratic nomination last year, for example, while Dan Lungren,...
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Oh Boy.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
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