We knew this little gem was hiding somewhere.  Carla Marinucci is one of the state’s better political writers, out of the stable of good talent over at the San Francisco Chronicle.  I had heard that she was making the rounds at the recent Westly/Angelides pillow fight-debate where voters really only discovered a pair of lackluster, unimpressive politicians, hopping over each other to so who could out-liberal the other (okay, those are MY words, not Carla’s).

Anyways, I had been keeping an eye out for Carla’s story, which I knew would be fun reading.  She didn’t let us down (though perhaps her techies did, as this story was posted too late to make the morning summary of stories). 

So, without further pitch, Carla’s take on the debate starts out:

Democrats’ dustup brightens outlook for Schwarzenegger in November

The Democratic candidates for governor didn’t mean to — but they gave the voters a step-by-step televised demonstration this week of why, when it comes to beating Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in November, it just might be time to start humming the theme from "Mission Impossible."

In their recent TV debate, Democratic state Controller Steve Westly, 49, the wealthy former eBay executive who has barraged the airwaves with ads, and state Treasurer Phil Angelides, 52, the former developer and state party chairman, displayed the kind of laserlike focus displayed by those vacuum cleaner sales folks on the Home Shopping Network.

The problem was the sales job involved spilling the dirt on each others’ reputations during an hourlong debate Wednesday in San Francisco sponsored by The Chronicle, Commonwealth Club of California, CBS 5-TV and other Bay Area media outlets.

Angelides: "I’ve always been on the side of hardworking families, and time and time again, Steve Westly stood with the big corporations … like Exxon Mobil.”

Westly: "I’ve never defended tax breaks for any of those companies — that’s a flat-out lie.”

Angelides: "Are you sure you’re running in the right primary?”

Westly: "If you think Sacramento‘s working well and you want more of the status quo, he’s the candidate for you."

"It was nasty — and nasty is not what voters want,” said Barbara O’Connor, a Cal State Sacramento professor of political communications. "Voters are really tired of finger-pointing, blame-game labeling; the Democrats need to find a way to crystallize why they should be elected.”

Even in the Democratic stronghold of San Francisco, where party passions and anti-Schwarzenegger feelings abound, the television viewership was lackluster for the Democratic matchup. The hourlong show on CBS 5-TV had a household rating of 1.8, which means about 1.8 percent of the households watching television at the time in the Bay Area — or roughly 52,000 people — were watching the debate, according to overnight Nielsen Media Research data.

Those hardcore junkies who watched the debate saw the two candidates attempt to forge a profile — neither of which was especially appealing.

Joseph Tuman, a San Francisco State University teacher of political and legal communications, said Angelides’ aim was "to position himself as the person who can stand up to Arnold Schwarzenegger."

"He uses words and language intentionally to conjure this image of a warrior, somebody who stands up, fights back, doesn’t back down. … He becomes the anti-Conan,” Tuman said, referring to one of Schwarzenegger’s signature movie roles.

And Westly, Tuman said, "really wants people to see him as different from Angelides."

"(Westly) says, ‘I’m an outsider, he’s an insider, I’ve got fresh ideas’ … the implication is that Angelides … is owned lock, stock and barrel” by his contributors, including labor unions and developers.

The angry Democratic barrage took place the same week a sunny, upbeat Schwarzenegger was all over the TV news, touting a $37 billion bond deal to build and repair the state’s roads, bridges and schools. The governor literally embraced Democratic legislative leaders as he pitched the bond deal during a tour across the state, presenting the very picture of executive leadership. He’s dumped last year’s "Join Arnold" casual jackets for sleek custom-made suits; he’s stopped running from the public and the press. And one insider on the governor’s team said Schwarzenegger has stuck to his singular goal: "governing, governing, governing."

You can read the rest (it gets better, trust me) right here.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 12th, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.