Schwarzenegger's lead grows

[jerry611]

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) - California's Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger extended his lead over his Democratic challenger in November state elections in the latest opinion poll published.

The former movie star moved further ahead of State Treasurer Phil Angelides -- who won the Democratic nomination for governor in March -- with a 44 percent to 37 percent lead in the Survey and Policy Research Institute's June 26-30 poll.

That was up from a 40 percent to 37 percent margin in March. The survey attributed Schwarzenegger's surge to his decision to send California national guard troops to the Mexican border in the fight against illegal immigrants, as well as the adoption of a compromise state budget.

The poll has a four percent margin of error for likely voters.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060706/ts_alt_afp/uspolitics_060706232430

[Auntie Bush]

1. SHIT!!!!!!!!!

[saltpoint]

2. On Tuesday evening, Nov. 7th, Californians will hear on their radios

and tvs that Democrats are sweeping elections from the east through the Midwest and across the Great Plains, and many will not have voted, and they'll pull into their precincts and vote for Angelides and Feinstein.

I'm calling a much bluer California than that poll registers right now.

[TomInTib]

4. God, I hope you are right.

I moved from a state (Texas) with a clown (you know who) for a governor to a state (California) that soon elected a total buffoon (you know who) as governor.

Something's gotta give, sometime.

[saltpoint]

16. Hi, Tom. Well, you're right -- you deserve an election where the

governor is a sentient being.

I think Angelides is stronger than this recent poll -- or will be by the time November rolls around.

Your governor's race will tighten. I don't think it's anywhere near over yet.

[TomInTib]

24. Yeah, we should also keep in mind that he has only recently...

wrapped up the primary where his focus was on the opposition.

He now needs to get out to the State at large.

[saltpoint]

34. Well, maybe get some yard signs and start putting them up in

folks' yards... fellow Dems of course... :)

If things go well east of the Mississippi on Nov. 7th, I think California's gubernatorial race will go blue also.

Hopin' so, anyhow.

[TomInTib]

39. Lawn signs are illegal here.

And it wouldn't make any difference here in S Marin, the bluest part of the Country.

[saltpoint]

40. O that's right. It is awfully blue there already. I remember all the

Kerry-Edwards signs in the apartment windows in San Francisco. Down almost any street, there were Kerry-Edwards signs. Just all over the place.

Definitely a lot different in Cincinnati!

[still_one]

6. then angelides better start making himself known to the public

[MADem]

14. No reason why I should be totally familiar, but it's a BLANK to me

Haven't even seen a picture or article.


Who's doing the PR for this candidate...Caspar the Friendly Ghost???

[still_one]

23. Angelides is state treasurer, but I would be surprised if most

knew who he was

[MADem]

27. I like following key races, but this guy, like I said, is a mystery

He needs to get his peeps to at least put some stuff out there on the web. Something funny, biting, interesting....he needs to generate a bit of excitement, I think.

If he does that, he can even get a little national exposure. If he could find a way to get an ad picked up on rotation during a cable news cycle, that could be helpful to him.

[still_one]

28. I agree

[saltpoint]

17. I think he will become more known, more popular.

Arnold's novelty has worn off. The nurses are pissed off at him. Teachers are pissed off at him.

And Angelides will have some money to spend on ads, too.

I'm calling a Democratic win for Angelides in November.

[still_one]

25. yes, we should have labor, but it will be a mistake

if he waits too long. A perfect example was the swift puke attacks against Kerry. He waited too long, and by the time he did come out no one was listening

[saltpoint]

32. Yep. I hope Angelides' people can get it together and really let

Arnold have it.

I'm hoping for a Democratic night in California for the years I spent living there, and so many friends still there.

[Webster Green]

10. I won't be voting for Feinstein...

No way! She lost my vote a long time ago.

[saltpoint]

19. Well, I hope you'll throw in with Angelides, then... it would be

really a good thing to be rid of Arnold Schwartzenegger on Nov. 8th.

[Webster Green]

35. Not to worry.......I despise Schwartzenegger...

If the people of this state are foolish enough to re-elect that steroid addled, repuke asshole.....well, I give up.

[still_one]

26. feinstein will win, but do you know the republican she is running against?

There are people far worse then Feinstein...


http://www.mountjoyforsenate.com/

lets not take anything for granted, take over at least one of the houses, then start cleaning up the party from the top down

If we don't everything else will be irrelevent

[Name removed]

36. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[still_one]

45. I hear you. I need to see how close the election seems to be

before I will definitely not vote for her

I am hoping against odds that Ned Lamont wins the primary against Lieberman. I think that would send the strongest message to the Democratic leadership that Democrats are pissed, and this is only the start

[Pushed To The Left]

37. I will be voting a straight Democratic ticket, including Feinstein!

I disagree with her on many issues, but she did join the fight (including the attempted filibuster) against the stacking of the Supreme Court with right wing justices. Compared to Mountjoy, she looks like Barbara Boxer!

[jackbourassa]

43. The poll really isn't that good for Arnold...

Arnold is only at 44% - despite near total name id. What does Phil get? Plus, don't forget how nasty the primary was! What Phil Angels has to do is make nice with the Democrats and hold some "unity dinners," and then start kicking some ass. You'll see his numbers jump up real fast!

Remember CA-50? Busby had a consistent lead in the polls, but she was stuck at 44% to 46%. Many thought this to mean that she might win...but in reality the undecideds were almost all Republicans, and Bilbray pulled ahead and won. It's the same thing here. Arnold is at 44% in the polls, but the rest are Democrats pissed at Phil. Phil should definitely not make the same mistake that Davis made: walk into an election with a divided party! If he doesn't, he'll win. Definitely.

[still_one]

3. problem is angelides is not being agressive enough

He is saving his money for later, but that is a mistake if you let them set the agenda

Get off your butt angilinis and fight, otherwise why did you even challenge wesley

[jerry611]

8. Arnold is trying to get his base together

That's where the latest surge is coming from. He sent troops to the Mexican border. And that made some conservatives happy.

[still_one]

11. agreed, but we should NOT wait too long

[MADem]

22. There are lots of opportunities for free exposure

They require some grassroots help, but everything from showing up at High School carwashes to beach clean-ups to visiting nursing homes and helping out, or going around and spending an hour or two working alongside everyday people to get a sense of what they do....it's all publicity. Going on radio talk shows or calling into them is another way. Offering interviews to small,local papers is yet another way.

The minute you turn up in a TV "market" out come the local news cameras to cover that stuff...and even if it is thirty seconds on the local news, it's thirty free seconds.

[AndyTiedye]

44. Same Trap We're Always In, They Get Infinite Free Airtime but We Gotta Pay

It is why we have an uphill battle against even the most unpopular Republican incumbents.

[Cleita]

5. Have you seen his latest ads?

He's making promises like a Democrat, education, health care, protecting the environment, :puke: I hope people don't fall for it because you know he's not going to follow through.

[still_one]

7. they will if angilindes doesn't start campaigning

[1932]

12. Angelides pulled TV ads vs Wesley a couple weeks before the election

fell behind, and then got his ads on the air in the last two weeks and pulled ahead.

He didn't have the money to go head to head with Westly for two or three months straight, but ended up having the winning argument and enough money to saturate (but not over-saturated) and respond to Westly when it mattered.

He's certainly following a similar strategy again.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

31. Not to be snarky but wasn't there a presidential candidate in 2004

who tried to close against a Republican?

The closer arguement does not apply against a well funded Republican campaign.

[1932]

46. If you don't have the money to match the Republican ads, why go head to

head in July? You'll run out of money before election day.

I thik the fact that Arnold is running ads now shows that he's not confident that he can win the argument in October and November.

Let Arnold spend now. Don't worry if he goes up in the polls now. Pay attention when Angelides goes on the air later and when people start paying attention.

I suspect that Angelides will probably be outspent in the same ratio as we was against Westly (who ran a Republican-style low taxes campaign against Phil which will be very similar to Arnold's campaign, as is already apparent from Arnold's ads) and I think he's going to win against Arnold the same way he beat Westley.

[bullimiami]

9. i cannot accept this as reality. he has been a ridiculous disaster

as governor.

i dont know who these people are polling but i dont trust it and i dont trust the fucking diebold machines.

[1932]

13. He gets ubelievably loving press. It's sick the way the media loves him.

[Deja Q]

47. He's an actor. And if Reagan could get away with all he did...

[1932]

51. An example:

Local news does report on how Angelides's economic program is preferred by 93% of voters, Angelides's personality is preferred by 53% of voters, and they're roughly 50:50 with a lot of undecideds. Guess what the story is? "Arnold has really bounced back from his losses in the referendum vote. Voters really like the course he's setting since then."

Ugh.

[skipos]

15. All of the polls indicated Angelides would have a tougher time

against Arnie compared to Westly. I hope he can pull it off.

[jerry611]

18. One smart thing Arnold did...

..is he distanced himself from Bush even when Bush had some popularity. So it will be very difficult to use Bush against Arnold in this election.

[Swamp Rat]

30. I will be there, reminding everyone they are both Nazis.

... who love each other. :)

[queenbdem87]

20. they should have nominated westly

anglides isnt very awe inspiring if you ask me.

[Blue-Jay]

21. but his balls are still shrinking!

Ba-zing!

/roid joke

[Demobrat]

29. Schwarzenneger is running a heavy-duty smear campaign

against Angelides. I see the ads every day. And they are good ads. Meanwhile NOTHING from Angelides. Nothing postive, nothing negative, just nothing.

[Awsi Dooger]

33. This one has never been high on my expectation list

I looked at the internals from the '03 recall carefully and Arnold had a very high rate of people voting for him and not merely against Davis. At that point I more or less conceded re-election in '06 and nothing has changed my mind. California always re-elects its gov. Arnold has the money. celebrity and benefit of a doubt working for him. He's also intensely hated, but that's somewhat like Bush in '04. We shouldn't mistake intense hate by maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of the voters for the same thing as a majority opposed. Incumbency has major benefit and that should work in our favor in tough races like Michigan and Illinois, but against us here.

[RevolutionStartsNow]

38. Good assessment

I agree with you, reluctantly. There was a time, after Arnie's botched special election last year, when it seemed like a majority of Californians had turned against him, but that seems to have faded. Arnold has been a better politician (not a better governor)than I expected, and he has regained his footing.

I hate it, but it seems to be true.

Maybe if we put up a Big Star, but not Angelides.

[upi402]

41. Maybe Clooney needs to lead a recall effort??? n/t

[Clarkie1]

42. Westly could have won, Angelides cannot.

Why? One word: taxes.

Education funding is increasing 10% this year from 50 billion to 55.1 billion per the recently approved budget. It seems miracles happen in election years (along with tax revenue "windfalls").

Although there is no guarantee this funding will be there next year, it is being used to effectively nullify Anglides argument that ongoing taxe increases are needed.

Westly was the only Democrat running who could have won. He was not calling for tax increases, but closing tax loopholes. Angelides killed his campaign the minute he proposed higher taxes as a first resort, not a last resort.

For the record, I supported Steve Westly.

[WI_DEM]

48. An incumbent with 44% isn't safe but I agree he is better off now

than he was but it's through pandering. I'm not sure that we have the best Democratic candidate up against him, but he needs to really begin pointing out that Arnold is a political chameleon--who changes his colors at the drop of a hat and has no true principles except to stay in power.

[oc2002]

49. Who is Angelides? He looks like an accountant vs the terminator.

Look, its not rocket science, the Dems want to lose.

[KansDem]

50. What ever happended to the secret meeting between Gov and Lay?

How has this news affected Californians?

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “solutions to California’s energy woes” reflect those of former Enron chief Ken Lay. On May 17, 2001, in the midst of California’s energy crisis, which was largely caused by Enron’s scandalous energy market manipulation, Schwarzenegger met with Lay to discuss “fixing” California’s energy crisis. Plans to “get deregulation right this time” called for more rate increases, an end to state and federal investigations, and less regulation. While California Governor Gray Davis and Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante were taking direct action to re-regulate Califonia’s energy and get back the $9 billion that was vacuumed out of California by Enron and other energy companies, Schwarzenegger was being groomed to overthrow Davis in the recall. Thus canceling plans to re-regulate and recoup the $9 billion.

After the California’s energy debacle of 2000, Davis and Bustamante filed suit under California’s unique Civil Code provision 17200, the “Unfair Business Practices Act,” which would order all power companies, including Enron, to repay the nearly $9 billion they extorted from California citizens. The single biggest opponent of the suit, with the most to lose, was Enron’s CEO, Ken Lay.

Lay, a very close friend and long time associate of President Bush and Vice-president Cheney, and one of their largest campaign contributors, hastily assembled a meeting with prominent Californians (confirmed by the release of 34 pages of internal Enron email) to strategize opposition to the Davis-Bustamante campaign and garner influential support for energy deregulation.

Included in the meeting were Michael Milken, “junk bond king” convicted of fraud in 1990 who currently runs a think tank in Santa Monica that focuses on global and regional economies; Ray Irani, Chief Executive of Occidental Petroleum; former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan; and movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Riordan and Schwarzenegger were at that time being courted as GOP gubernatorial candidates.)

Attendees of the meeting received a small four-page packet entitled “Comprehensive Solution for California.” The packet called for an end to the federal and state investigations into Enron’s role in California’s energy crisis and proposed saddling consumers with the $9 billion loss. Discussions further focused on preventing Davis’s proposed re-regulation of energy markets.

--more--

http://www.projectcensored.org/publications/2005/13.html

Has Arnold explained his role at this meeting? Don't they know about this? Don't they care?

[Javaman]

52. If Californians reelect this idiot, they deserve their misery. nt