Gubernatorial race & Downticket races & California politics & National politics 14 Oct 2006 06:44 pm
California bucking national voting trend? (Part 2)
Here’s another opinion to add to the meme that California is going to buck the anti-incumbent, anti-GOP national trend. (Note, though, that the “national anti-GOP wave” meme is itself not necessarily on solid ground, given the GOP’s significant advantages in cash, GOTV ground game, and congressional district boundaries — all three of those items are virtually ignored in mainstream media coverage in favor of the scandal du jour, but all three are structural bulwarks that undoubtedly favor the Republicans.)
Dan Walters, the veteran Sacramento Bee columnist, writes in yesterday’s paper:
Why, one might ask, isn’t the national Democratic tide washing over California? Partially, it’s because with the state’s incumbent-friendly, gerrymandered congressional districts, Iraq and other national issues are not generating political heat. Angelides has gamely attempted to link Schwarzenegger to President Bush, but the governor has carefully distanced himself from the White House, and the Angelides strategy doesn’t appear to be working.
Another factor is simply that Angelides is a poor candidate, with little ideological or personal appeal to swing voters, and several other Democratic candidates suffer from the same malady. Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, for example, is a very weak campaigner with a less-than-stellar résumé — which explains why even liberal consumer advocates are opting for Republican Poizner as the two vie for insurance commissioner.