Any Californians here? What happened this morning?

[TayTay]

This is not a good story. Ahm, what the heck is going on with that campaign in California?

Sept. 18 - John Kerry campaigned on behalf of Phil Angelides for governor this morning in West Hollywood.

The Massachusetts Democrat spoke to a half-empty gym in West Hollywood.

About 75 people heard the former presidential candidate criticize California Republican politics without mentioning incumbent Arnold Schwarzenegger by name.

But Kerry referred repeatedly to state programs that had been cut and to politics that caters to special interests.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=politics&id=4574288

250 people get turned away in South Carolina and LA has a half-filled auditorium? What gives with this campaign? Did they advertise or is this campaign impoloding?

[beachmom]

1. He's doing another speech at Pepperdine U. in the afternoon according to

KG's blog, so I don't think we'll hear from her for many hours. That does sound like an organizing problem, because I am sure there are many in LA who would love to see the senator speak. (heck, he would get 250 in MY neck of the woods, and we're deep red!)

[wisteria]

2. Of course our friends at ABC have to pick it up. Only a matter of time

before we hear about it from some right wing paper or Fox New. I bet they won't cover the speech though. I hope I am wrong, I really do. I hate to see this type of poor organization being played as no interest in Senator Kerry. This shouldn't happen in California. the last I read, Arnold was way up in the polls. Maybe Angelides people have lost their momentum.

[TayTay]

3. It's inconsistent.

There were good crowds and good reaction in NH and Iowa. There were overflow crowds in South Carolina. Ahm, what happened in the Blue State of California? That is odd. I have seen bad organization fail to turn up crowds before and it is just wrong.

Is Angelides that bad?

[Mass]

4. 10 am a Monday morning? Could that explain a low turnout?

[wisteria]

5. Good point! n/t

[TayTay]

6. 9:00 am. Maybe that's why.

This doesn't, btw, have to do much with Kerry and maybe it was scheduling conflicts, but low turnout events this close to an election with a Big Name Dem coming in are not good. Sigh! I have been hearing more and more Californians talking about how Schwarzenegger(sp) is not that bad. I guess this is indicative of a race going down the tubes. Sigh!

[sandnsea]

7. I think it is

race going down the tubes that is.

The Dem primary was rather harsh, then there was the length of time for Villaraigosa to endorse, then Hollywood going for Arnold, I don't know what the hell is going on down there. I don't think I've seen Angelides' face on anything and I'm not all that far from the border. 75 Democrats in LA is absolutely pathetic, no excuse for that AT ALL. We could get 75 people in my little town of 8000. I don't understand it and I sure don't get this sudden switch to loving Arnold either, it's as if all the crap he tried to do in that state didn't even happen. You'd think the unions alone would turn out more than 75 people.

[europegirl4jfk]

8. Yeah, unfortunately my Dem friends in L.A. think that too :-((

They voted for him the last time and I fear they will vote for him again. :-( They hate Bush but they think that Schwarzenegger is a moderate Republican and they had so much problems with their Dem governor before that they think he is doing okay. I really don't get it. This guy is a joke as an actor and as a politician.

[sandnsea]

9. NYC voted for Bloomberg

And I heard the same kind of reasoning at DU at the time. It's funny to me that "blue state" folks understand when THEY are the ones voting for Republicans - but go bonkers when it's Republicans in a red state voting on a different set of values. As long as this is going on, we haven't made any progress on "voting against ones own interest" and similar Dem Party problems.

Although the one I really really don't get is 45% of Virginians showing up to vote for John Kerry, and then turning around and voting for George Allen. Webb's numbers are good now, but I can't figure out how they were ever down in the 20's to begin with. What kind of Kerry voter goes for Allen??? Don't get that one at all.

[globalvillage]

10. Damn.

Didn't they advertise this? Hell, I can't imagine this happening in LA if people knew.

Damn.

[JI7]

11. they didn't advertise it, i only found out yesterday,

it might have been intentional as California elections are usually driven by the media os their focus might have been to get reporters there.

but even so, i have no idea why they ddin't inform people earlier on. maybe it wasn't scheduled until then.

[JI7]

12. Arnold benefiting from Gray Davis

Arnold is benefiting from some of the things Gray Davis did to deal with the energy problems we had during his Governorship.

Davis blamed for what happened as a result of republican policies and Arnold benefiting from Dem policy.

fuck all the so called Dems who support Arnold.

[kerrygoddess]

13. Got there late

But I have some news here - AP is full of shit!

John Kerry Stumps for Phil Angelides in Los Angeles
September 18th, 2006 @ 11:06 pm



John Kerry was in Los Angeles campaigning for Phil Angelides for governor this morning. The resounding theme from Kerry was the importance of Democrats winning in November. Kerry repeatedly spoke about state programs that have been cut by Republicans and about politics that cater to special interests.

He told L.A. votes, “You have a very, very clear choice. Say no to these special interests and yes to the middle class.”

Contrary to the AP report, that Kerry never mentioned Arnold Schwarzenegger by name, Kerry threw out some real zingers:

“Arnold Schwarzenegger is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get.”

MORE - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=4218#more-4218

[JI7]

14. interesting, thanks for posting, and that's a great pic

what i know about Angelides is that he IS tough. one of those who are underestimated. it will be up to him to see whether we will be able to see that. listening to him, you can already see it. but the whore media rarely reports on him. it's Arnold all the time in the California media.

it will be up to him and us to find ways of getting his message out.

also, do you know why the Kerry event wasn't publicized more ? was it something they had not planned and came up just then ? if you can contact anyone on the campaign, ask them to publicize his events more and to allow time for people to make plans to attend.

i'm still disgusted that Arnold event handing Villaraigosa more power over LAUSD was held around the same time. what's up with Villaraigosa ? i'm disappointed. i supported him . the Kerry event with him was planned early and publicized more and got a lot of attention. was it because he was running against a Dem so the media had nobody to protect ?