The kids at Sacramento’s Rio American High School will long remember this prom night. You see, there was this group of grown-ups who kept hustling back and forth through their photo line last night at the Sacramento Convention Center, and one of them was state Treasurer and erstwhile Democratic gubernatorial frontrunner Phil Angelides.
Angelides had just won the expected endorsement of the California Democratic Party convention for his now uphill campaign against ex-eBay honcho-turned-state Controller Steve Westly. And through various quirks and changes in scheduling, he ended up holding his press conference accepting the endorsement in the part of the convention center where the high school prom was taking place.
So the mostly sober-for-the-moment high school boys in their rented tuxedoed finery and the teased-hair high school girls in their flashy dresses had to endure groups of journalists and campaign operatives hurrying back and forth between the party banquet and the press conference location before the candidate — who lives three miles away and was not at the banquet — finally drove over to proclaim his victory.
There at the press conference site, a hallway location just down the way from the convention center conference room where the treasurer kicked off his weekend adventure with a Young Democrats rally, Angelides and his screaming blue-shirted backers were giddier than the prom-going high schoolers just 50 yards away. It was as though they had just won the Super Bowl and were headed for Disneyland. Indeed, Angelides seized on a sports metaphor to declare what a difference maker he thinks this event is for his campaign.
“To me,” declared the treasurer, and former state Democratic chairman, “this was the first game of the play-offs. A lot of teams can do well in the regular season, but the real winners come forward in the play-offs.” The Los Angeles Times poll showing rival Westly with large leads over both himself and Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had just been published that morning.
Angelides then launched into a litany of his endorsements: U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, none of whom were campaigning for him at the convention, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, who was campaigning hard for him, and a host of unions.
Referring to himself, Angelides noted that “A lot of teams make it into the play-offs with mediocre records. I’m still the underdog. But I’m willing to go to the mat for people.”
Asked about the history of the state party endorsement, which went to then state Attorney General John Van de Kamp in 1990 over then San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein before Feinstein won a big primary victory, Angelides slammed Westly by saying: “Steve Westly’s no Dianne Feinstein. She’s for me.”
Yet he acknowledged that he trails by substantial margins in private and public polling. (Indeed, his highly respected pollster, Paul Maslin, is not present at the convention.)
Taking another shot at the new frontrunner, Angelides said: “I’m not in this like Steve Westly because the polls look good.”
I predicted in my Friday morning column and in a Thursday morning item that the treasurer would win the state party convention endorsement. It helps to have been to a couple dozen of these state Democratic conventions, as I have. The endorsement has usually not meant much in Democratic primary elections, either for governor or for other statewide offices. This doesn’t stop activists from fighting over it. The convention will adopt a state party platform later today. Most politicians, much less voters, will pay little attention to it.
However the primary turns out for Angelides, one thing is for sure. He gave the kids at last night’s Rio Americano High School Prom a memory for a lifetime.
Read 
| Comments (33) |
That’s a funny story, Bill. Thanks for relating it.
The endorsement may not have meant much in other primaries, but it can mean a lot to Angelides if he capitalizes on it, if he makes use of this first turn of good news in months. We’ll see.
Truth is, the poll numbers are soft, and no matter how much spinning supporters want to do, so far we’ve had an ultra-cautious, mostly shallow, and insular campaign from both candidates. In my opinion, neither is yet ready to beat Arnold.
5 weeks, folks. Let’s demand more from these two would-be Governors.
Sen. Feinstein was here — she was the featured speaker at the luncheon on Saturday.
What state party endorsement has made a difference in a campaign for constitutional office?
Yes, DiFi spoke at the lunch. She didn’t campaign for Angelides, though, and did not knock Westly.
Nancy Pelosi made up for his other three co-chairs. She introduced the candidate to the convention for his speech, campaigned with him, appeared with him at his press conference before luncheon and made a strong statement of support.
I can’t recall, offhand, a state party endorsement that has made much difference in a race for statewide office. I’ll have to ask someone.
The fact is that Angelides is a leader and Westly is not. Regardless of the impact of the party endorsement on the race, only a leader would have the guts to go out and try to get that endorsement. Westly campaigned for No Endorsement, much like his behavior on many other fronts..a rather gutless abstainer who makes no difference on much of anything.
I predict that Californians will choose a leader because they are tired of pretty do-nothing boys.
Once again, Angelides people, the rule here is that if your principal purpose here is to spin for camapign, you must identify yourself with your real first and last names and acknowledge your affiliations.
I know that your campaign knows this rule, because I have lost count of all the warnings I have given you on this.
Bill–Thanks for painting the picture of the prom-press conference doubleheader. You captured the moment.
Who knows what the party endorsement will do here. There’s been a lot of spinning (what else is new) in the campaign about the polls and this and that. This time it could make a difference just because it blunts the polling “news” which is based, at least in a large part, on the advertising that Westly was able to do without an answer from Angelides. Every race is different and history is a guide–but there are exceptions. You’ve seen other campaigns where a candidate that did well in the last election assumes that it will automatically repeat–only to see a different result.
Pirandello had a play–”It is so if you think its so.” May not be the exact title. I guess spin becomes the reality–sometimes.
It is interesting to try to sort this out. We’ll know what happens in 38 days.
But it certainly was good theater yesterday and I think the grassroots will be behind the nominee and there will be energy here carrying over to Novbember.
Good point that the party endorsement was not a minute too late to avoid what would otherwise have been pretty devastating news and trends on the polling realities for Phil’s candidacy. Without a major push by the party on Phil’s behalf before the primary, which is extremely unlikely, I believe that the endorsement alone won’t propel Phil very far for very long.
A vote for Phil in the primary is a vote for Arnold in November…he thanks you in advance…
Yeah, why is it that as Westly’s chief strategist I openly post on this blog using my real name, not a made-up moniker, while the Angelides operatives can’t muster the courage (cojones?) to do the same? It was quite funny at the convention to be called the “king of mean” by the same guy the Washington Post once called a “champion smear artist.” I guess it takes one to know one. Now, let’s see how many Phil Shills try to respond to this by hiding their identities.
Stan, I operate in even stealthier mode than the Democratic gubernatorial candidates!
Congrats to Phil on the nomination. Doesn’t it show a smidgen of cognitive dissonance, though, to at once win the nomination, run down the list of institutional endorsements you’ve received, then turn around and proclaim yourself the underdog?
Are there any plans for a debate in English? I’d be happy if they moved on from all this endorsement psychobabble and talked issues. How about a 1 question debate: “Water? Discuss.”
Garry South,
I’m supporting your candidate, but I find your bellicose baiting of the Angelides campaign to be tiresome and beneath your talents.
It would be refreshing if the Angelides boys and girls were courageous enough to attach their real names to their tiresome attacks. There appears to be an endless number of fake handles commenting for Angelides and against Westly. That is one juvenile campaign there.
The dirty little secret is, I think it would be fair to say that Phil Angelides has not suffered from lack of endorsements in this campaign. Yet one more endorsement is not going to be the magic trick that bails out his inept campaign. In fact, you could make a strong case that Angelides has depended — to his own detriment — almost exclusively on endorsements to bring him the nomination. That strategy hasn’t worked so far — and will not work even with the party endorsement. BTW, does this guy ever get out of his Sacramento cocoon and actually go campaign with real people, press the flesh with real voters? Anybody know the last time he did that?
I asked a prominent Democrat, who does not want to be quoted, when the state Democratic Party endorsement made a difference in a statewide race.
The only race this person cited was the 1994 nomination for state insurance commissioner. That nomination was won by then state Senator Art Torres, who went on to lose in the general election.
Athlon, the Democratic gubernatorial candidates are debating — in English — on Wednesday in LA at an event sponsored by the California League of Conservation Voters.
They will probably debate the following Wednesday, May 10, in San Francisco at an event sponsored by the Commonwealth Club.
I just left the Democratic Convention. Two of my girlfriends and I with our “Westly Democrat Governor” pins proundly on display went down to especially hear Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez . The three of us work with non-profits on immigration issues and had heard the Speaker’s Democratic radio address, but we had never heard him speak in person. I was given an observer pass and told I need to sit in the back! Now I did not like that one bit, because I always sit up front at everything and anything. Also, I did not want to be difficult because I had my “Westly pin” on and Westly supporters and volunteers are always very polite and friendly, and many of us are even adorable. In any event, because I am many things including resourceful, I finagled and “Honorary Guest Pass” and I was seated in the front row in front of the podium.Unfortunately, the Speaker was a no show, but I, along with everyone else there heard a powerful and inspiration speech by Senator (Georgia) Max Cleland …
why do you keep deleting my posts BB?
I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Phil’s performance was ok but he worked it out.
The delgates have spoken.
Boring and not unexpected.
Hi, Adam. Then don’t pay any attention to it. We all have our jobs to do. Generally speaking, I have a pretty good idea of what I’m doing and what my role is in a campaign. I don’t really care who likes it or dislikes it. I’ll explain it at the quadrennial Berkeley Seminar next January.
Garry, I have no doubt you know what you’re doing.
At the Berkeley Seminar, I hope you’ll explain why you don’t care if what you do and say alienates people. Because it’s more than a simply personal matter of friends & enemies in politics.
You happen to have, as you are well aware, a great impact on how the public views politicians and their campaigns in this state. This goes well beyond winning & losing. Well beyond your reputation and the money you make.
I’m sorry to moralize, but I hope that’s something you speak to or one day write about.
All posts violating the rules are now immediately deleted. There are no more warnings. I am not going to waste any more of my time with you.
Bill. Does your rule include unpaid volunteers? Also paid operatives are not potentially subject to the same reprisals and repercusions as other for voicing thier positions. I know that some State employees have been harassed for making public statements that have been deemed to be advesarial to certain stakeholder groups who happen to have the political connections to call our bosses…
The rule includes everyone. I am not going to debate this.
If your principal purpose here is to spin/advocate on behalf of a campaign, you use your real name.
Well, Adam, I regret that you’re disappointed in me and think I’m turning people off to politics. A great deal of campaigning involves psychological warfare, just as psyops constitutes a major part of the strategy on real battlefields. (It’s the same reason Muhammad Ali taunted his opponents in and out of the ring. And BTW, it was all an act — I spent an afternoon with him at his Chicago home one time, and he was the most genial, soft-spoken, self-effacing person you could ever hope to meet.) I don’t expect non-practitioners to fully understand or appreciate this aspect of campaign politics — or to like it. But my role is not to provide people with a civics lesson, or to give uplifting encomiums to the political process in the newspapers. I sign on to help my candidate win. Some of what one has to do to achieve that result may look odd to people outside the process, but I long ago accepted that as a downside of my career. I can live with that.
Garry, thanks for your response.
I appreciate it.
That response didn’t sound like “The King of Mean” to me!
There were some stories at the time of Guv Gray’s second victory about South. An interesting guy! I mostly remember the strange counterpoint to his brass-knuckled public person – he likes to make quilts or knit or something like that.
The fact of the matter is, he is running circles around the Angelides team right now!
Big ups to Angelides for getting the endorsement. Now turn it into something! And get your daughters off the air. They’re not running for anything, and I’m looking for a governor, not a plumber!