Free Republic

Angelides drew attention when he called on the California Public Employees' Retirement System and the State Teachers' Retirement System to involve 2 percent of their portfolios in the state's "emerging markets" -- neglected, low-income neighborhoods. But conservatives charge he pushed controversial financial policies and effectively overrode the state constitution by politicizing a ministerial post to promote market and societal changes. "He is putting the public employees' money at risk to pursue a political agenda and to help him get into the governor's mansion," protested Adrian Moore, vice president of the Reason Foundation, a Los Angeles libertarian think tank. As a...

After jousting with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a debate full of one-liners, Democratic challenger Phil Angelides thinks he's ready for late-night television. The state treasurer complained Tuesday that NBC's "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" booked Schwarzenegger as a guest for tonight's show without giving him equal time as required by federal law. The Austrian-born governor is scheduled to appear alongside another German-speaking celebrity, supermodel and television host Heidi Klum, who is not running for office. Schwarzenegger blurred the line between news and entertainment three years ago when he declared his candidacy in the gubernatorial recall on Leno's show. The...

Worried Democrats said Sunday that Phil Angelides failed to achieve the breakthrough he needed in the sole gubernatorial debate and expressed fear that his campaign's trajectory threatened others on the statewide ticket. Fellow Democrat John Garamendi, in a tight race for lieutenant governor against Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock, has started to distance himself from Angelides. He said in a television interview aired Sunday that he disagreed with an Angelides plan to raise taxes on corporations and the well-to-do.[snip]On Sunday, the example cited repeatedly by Angelides' disappointed party brethren was the 1994 election, when then-Treasurer Kathleen Brown lost in a...

"The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" will feature Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday - just one month before the Nov. 7 election - but not his Democratic opponent, state Treasurer Phil Angelides. Angelides asked to appear on the show but had not received a response by Tuesday afternoon, said Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for Angelides' campaign. A "Tonight Show" spokeswoman confirmed the Republican governor's appearance but did not respond to repeated requests for comment. U.S. Rep Xavier Becerra, D-Los Angeles, filed a complaint on Angelides' behalf with the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday that accuses the "Tonight Show" of violating...

If Saturday night had been a normal one for me, I would have taken a seat in the press room at California State University, Sacramento, and, with a few dozen of my colleagues, waited on every word spoken during the hourlong debate between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his Democratic opponent, Treasurer Phil Angelides. Instead, I was occupied by a family wedding in San Diego and, like a hundred or so other guests, blissfully ignorant of what was unfolding in the capital city. It was just as well. Not one person at the wedding mentioned the debate or expressed any concern...

OAKLAND - Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Angelides capped a two-day, statewide barnstorming bus tour Monday with raucous rallies on both sides of the Bay, revving up volunteers for his campaign's final four weeks. 16th Assembly District candidate Sandré Swanson called it "street heat" during the rally outside a downtown state office building, as a throng of union members and local candidates pledged to do all they can to see the state treasurer elected governor Nov. 7. They met Angelides with gusto despite his hour-late arrival from Stockton. "We're going to give this everything we have," he pledged, noting students suffering...

Trailing in his bid to unseat Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Democratic challenger Phil Angelides will begin airing a biographical TV ad Tuesday in a late-hour bid to tell his story to voters who may know little or nothing about him. The ad, to run in markets statewide, entwines family footage of the candidate with details skimmed from his resume as a Sacramento businessman-politician. Opening with chiming guitar chords from the Bellamy Brothers' "Let Your Love Flow," it alludes to his political awakening in the Nixon era and later features a shot of Angelides with U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.

The Austrian bodybuilder and the grandson of Greek immigrants are self-made men, millionaires both, the embodiment of the ambitions of most who venture here. But as they seek the governorship, the personalities and experiences of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Phil Angelides have led them to far different views about the appropriate role of government in Californians' lives. "When I came to California with absolutely nothing, I only had a dream and a gym bag in my hand and $20. That's all I had. And because of California, I could make a successful life," the Republican governor told a crowd in San...

Worried Democrats said Sunday that Phil Angelides failed to achieve the breakthrough he needed in the sole gubernatorial debate and expressed fear that his campaign's trajectory threatened others on the statewide ticket. Fellow Democrat John Garamendi, in a tight race for lieutenant governor against Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock, has started to distance himself from Angelides. On Sunday, the example cited repeatedly by Angelides' disappointed party brethren was the 1994 election, when then-Treasurer Kathleen Brown lost in a landslide and dragged several fellow Democrats down with her. "When you have a situation like we had in 1994, when the top...

According to a poll released Monday by the Public Policy Institute of California, Schwarzenegger leads Angelides, 46 to 33 percent. Even in the notoriously liberal San Francisco Bay Area, Schwarzenegger leads Angelides 42 to 37 percent — despite the Angelides camp's attempts to link him to President George W. Bush, who sports a 25 percent approval rating in the same region. That's why union workers and other tried-and-true Santa Cruz Democrats are joining a statewide campaign to get out the vote next week, complete with door hangers, posters and old-fashioned precinct walking. UC Santa Cruz liberals were trying to talk...

Schwarzenegger depicts his foe as a big spender. Angelides compares his rival to Bush, Hastert. Trailing badly in polls, Democrat Phil Angelides on Saturday used the first and only debate of the governor's race to question Arnold Schwarzenegger's integrity and try to yoke him to President Bush and embattled Republicans in Congress. A jocular Schwarzenegger parried with one-liners and invoked major bipartisan agreements with state lawmakers, portraying Angelides as a big-spending liberal who was eager to hike taxes on those who could least afford it. The issue of taxes, the governor's preferred ground, dominated the debate. Schwarzenegger mocked state Treasurer...

Democrat Phil Angelides has been pursuing his dream of high political office for more than three decades but on Saturday, it all boiled down to a one-hour verbal confrontation with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, with Angelides desperately needing to radically change the campaign's dynamics. It didn't happen. And because it didn't, Angelides' plight is even more desperate with just a month remaining before the Nov. 7 election. Angelides has been stuck on the short end of a double-digit gap in every major political poll, unable to muster even a strong majority among Democrats as he pursued a decidedly left-of-center agenda. Meanwhile,...

In their only debate, Schwarzenegger tries not to blunder, Angelides tries to tie governor to Bush. SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Treasurer Phil Angelides argued over taxes and trust Saturday during their only meeting before the Nov. 7 election -- but neither scored major points during a debate devoid of defining moments. Democrat Angelides trails by double digits in several polls and is scrounging for funds. Most analysts believed he needed desperately to impress voters, many of whom only know the treasurer from Schwarzenegger's campaign ads.``This was no cataclysmic event,'' said Tim Hodson, executive director for the Center for...

In a relatively uneventful debate Saturday night with no clear winner, Phil Angelides, the state treasurer and underdog Democratic candidate for governor, may have come out ahead by simply sharing a stage with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. "At least he'll be in the same news cycle (as Schwarzenegger),'' sighed one labor official who is supporting Angelides. Analysts noted Saturday that the debate may have marked one of Angelides' first -- and last -- chances to make an impression.

Following their one debate in Sacramento, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is scheduled to visit Watts Sunday, while Treasurer Phil Angelides, his Democratic opponent, in the Nov. 7 election, will hold a rally in West Los Angeles. Julie Soderlund said. "Phil Angelides will do nothing but take California backward with $18 billion in tax increases." Angelides is scheduled to be joined at the rally by Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, and several of the other statewide Democratic candidates, Brokaw said.

"I can tell by the joy I see in your eyes that you love to raise taxes," the governor said to Angelides. "Why don't you just say right now, 'I love increasing your taxes.'" Angelides said his plan was to raise taxes on the wealthy and close corporate tax loopholes, in part to help California balance its budget and fully fund education. "Who can you trust to do the right thing by middle class families in this state?" Angelides said. The governor noted the difference between California's economic situation today and three years ago, when Davis was ousted amid a...

CA: Angelides vs Schwarzenegger debate NOW on CSPAN. LIVE THREAD

Broadcasting the event live at 6 p.m. will be KCBS-TV Channel 2, KCET-TV Channel 28, KWHY-TV Channel 22 and cable station C-SPAN. The association said the debate will also be broadcast on radio stations KABC-AM (790) and KNX-AM (1070).

The national immigration debate is reverberating in California's gubernatorial campaign, with the two major-party candidates trading verbal jabs but treading carefully on the volatile issue. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has talked tough in the past on border-related issues — praising Minuteman-style private border patrols and supporting the anti-illegal immigrant Proposition 187 — now plays up his immigrant roots, calling for a comprehensive and compassionate border policy that bolsters security without mistreating illegal immigrants. Schwarzenegger has labeled Angelides weak on national security for not supporting the deployment of 1,000 National Guard troops to the border. He also has criticized him for...