Getting Voters Fired Up Is Half the Battle

Californians are grumpy over high gas prices, immigration and the state’s troubled schools, yet candidates in next week’s election are struggling just to gain voters’ attention.

In the Democratic primary for governor, the top race on the June 6 ballot, leading contenders state Treasurer Phil Angelides and Controller Steve Westly have made scant impression on the public, according to polls.

The 2003 recall and 2005 special election called by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, along with the presidential contest in between, have left voters weary of candidates appealing for support in back-to-back TV commercials, many of them misleading, confusing or contradictory, analysts say.

“People are frankly sick of casting ballots,” said John J. Pitney Jr., a government professor at Claremont McKenna College. “We’re just not used to voting that often.”

Also, the candidate biographies -- and campaign personalities -- lack sizzle. Angelides is a former Sacramento developer. Westly is a former Silicon Valley executive.

Beyond party nominating contests for governor and other statewide offices, the ballot includes two propositions and some hard-fought primaries for Congress and the Legislature, along with scattered local races. Independents who wish to vote in party primary contests can request a Republican or Democratic ballot.

Among the most closely watched races is the San Diego County battle for the congressional seat left open by the resignation of Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, the Rancho Santa Fe Republican who pleaded guilty to federal crimes in a bribery scandal.

Normally, it is a safe Republican seat. But in a year of trouble nationally for the Republican Party, the contest between Democrat Francine Busby and GOP rival Brian Bilbray could be a bellwether for the larger struggle this fall over control of Congress.

The two are vying to immediately serve out the remainder of Cunningham’s term and by a calendar quirk are also seeking party nominations for the next congressional term, to be decided in November.

In the race for governor, Schwarzenegger faces no well-known opponent in the Republican primary. Westly and Angelides have spent nearly $57 million combined on efforts to win the Democratic nomination to challenge him in November.

The race has demonstrated the enduring power of television advertising in California elections. When Westly was the only candidate running TV commercials, he seized an early lead in the polls; it vanished after the Angelides ads started running at full force, and the two are heading into the election in a dead heat.

For voters, the decision is made tougher by the Democrats’ similar views. Both favor legal abortion, gay marriage, gun control, the death penalty, driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants and a broad range of environmental protection measures.

Both have also vowed higher spending on public schools, although their higher-education agendas diverge. Westly has promised to eliminate community college tuition and fees for most students. Angelides has pledged to roll back state university tuition and fee increases that took effect during Schwarzenegger’s term.

Both also have a history of supporting higher taxes. In the campaign, however, Angelides has proposed up to $5 billion in new taxes on corporations and high-income Californians, while Westly calls tax hikes a “last resort.”

The campaign opened on a positive note, with Westly stressing his resume as an early executive at EBay, the Internet auction giant, and as a Stanford University instructor, and Angelides emphasizing his endorsements by Democratic luminaries, including Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein. It is closing with a fierce clash of negative ads that some Democrats fear could bruise the party’s nominee and benefit Schwarzenegger.

On Sunday, at least, the tone was civil in Los Angeles, where both Democrats attended an early morning service at the predominantly black West Angeles Church of God in Christ.

The candidates each arrived just before 8 a.m. flanked by a powerful African American political supporter from Congress: Westly with Rep. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) and Angelides with Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles).

During the service they sat about 8 feet apart, separated by an aisle, and ignored each other. As Bishop Charles E. Blake led parishioners through rousing music and a passionate sermon on redemption, the two men did their best to fit in. Westly swayed, clapped and mouthed the words to songs. Angelides appeared more reserved, often standing with his hands clasped in front of him as the crowd chanted and sang.

After the sermon, both men milled around, shaking hands, but some parishioners were openly skeptical about being used as campaign fodder.

“You don’t see them unless it is election time,” said Los Angeles resident Clarence Clemons, an insurance claims adjuster. “After the elections, it’s like they always ride off into the sunset.”

Asked how they could change such perceptions, the candidates said they would work to improve conditions in struggling urban communities.

“I recognize there is a cynicism among too many Californians, and that’s because they do not see a champion who stands up for them,” Angelides said, pledging to be just that.

Westly said that as governor he would be a regular in areas such as South Los Angeles, noting that he planned to fly to Northern California later Sunday partly to attend a church in Oakland. When he arrives, he said, “they are not going to say, ‘Oh my gosh, there is Steve Westly.’ They are going to say, ‘There’s brother Westly, who was just here six weeks ago.’ ”

The other competitive races on the ballot include Democratic primaries for attorney general, controller, lieutenant governor and insurance commissioner, and Republican primaries for controller and treasurer. The most high-profile race has been the Democratic contest for attorney general, which pits Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown against Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo.

Also up for a vote is Proposition 82, filmmaker Rob Reiner’s proposal to raise income taxes on Californians making more than $400,000 a year to provide free preschool to all 4-year-olds, and Proposition 81, a $600-million bond to build and renovate libraries.

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Times staff writer Kurt Streeter contributed to this report.

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Begin text of infobox

Phil Angelides

Party: Democratic

Occupation: State treasurer

Age: 52

Residence: Sacramento

Personal: Married, three daughters

Education: Bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard University, 1974

Career highlights: Employed in state

government, from 1975 to 1983. Starting in

1984, worked in private business, including

a suburban home-development company.

Became chairman of the state Democratic

Party, 1991. State treasurer, 1999 to the

present.

Platform: Angelides has run as the “anti-Schwarzenegger,” heralding his unstinting opposition to the Republican governor and seeking to contrast that with Democratic opponent state Controller Steve Westly, who cooperated with the governor early in his term. Angelides has also staked his campaign on the historically risky premise of raising taxes -- he says he would finance education and other programs with tax hikes on corporations and the wealthy.

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Steve Westly

Party: Democratic

Occupation: State controller

Age: 49

Residence: Atherton, Calif.

Personal: Married, two children

Education: Bachelor’s degree in history from Stanford University, 1978; masters in business administration from Stanford, 1983

Career highlights: Served as investment banker and employee of several Silicon Valley firms, most notably as vice president and senior vice president of the online auction house EBay from 1997 to 2000. Longtime Democratic Party activist and Democratic National Committee member. State controller since 2003.

Platform: In a campaign financed in part by tens of millions of dollars from his own fortune, Westly has argued that he would be a pragmatic choice for governor, protective of the environment, education and abortion rights, yet reluctant to raise taxes to finance state programs. Strategically, that has placed him between Democratic opponent state Treasurer Phil Angelides and the man they seek to replace, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.