Eli Jacks-in-the-Box

First, Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there who read this blog (Better late than never, right Momma Jacks?).

Yesterday, in a wonderful Mother's Day gift to the two wonderful Mrs's Angelides' the Sacramento Bee endorsed Phil Angelides in the Democratic primary. The hometown paper saw the light and recommended Phil to their readership.

Here's some of the good ink:

During the campaign, Angelides has been more forthright about how he would increase funding for public schools and also close California's chronic budget gap...

Angelides has also made more of his office than Westly. As treasurer and a board member of the state's two pension systems, Angelides has gone after fraudulent investment firms and a chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, Richard Grasso, who wasn't minding the store. He has fought U.S. companies that have taken advantage of offshore tax havens at the expense of shareholders and taxpayers. At times, he has even bucked the public employees that are a big part of his base.

Westly, unfortunately, has been less dynamic...

If elected, Angelides could have a historic impact on directing California's growth, ensuring that state money is directed toward compact, desirable communities, instead of the usual sprawl....

...if Democrats want a gubernatorial candidate who offers more substance than style, they will vote for Angelides on June 6.

Steve Westly, Republican. He sucks.

Wow.

I'll admit Phil's a little nerdy. But it's good nerdy. Smart nerdy. The kind of nerdy you want in the governor's office.

But Steve Westly, that's just straight up dork. Dork that isn't very smart (lottery reform?). Dork that should be at home (maybe in his mother's basement) playing with, oh I don't know...

SLOT CARS!

Oh, and guess what... Westly does play with slot cars. From the Ventura County Star today:
Westly plays tennis and races slot cars at home with longtime friends such as investment banker Paul Rosentiel, now serving as policy director for his campaign. The two have known each other since 1981, having met during their days as graduate students.

Seriously... We can't let this guy run the 5th largest economy in the world. He'd obviously rather play with his little toy cars.

Here's some independent confirmation of his love of little boy toys:

• He had a custom built slot car track made
• He has an online testimonial about his track

Steve Westly - "I've owned my track for about 6 months now, and I couldn't be
more pleased. My only regret is that I don't have more time to race on
it."

And finally... pictures of his slot car track:

Capitol Weekly's got an interview with Phil Angelides today. It's pretty good, and let's Phil tell it in his own words why he would be the best governor for California.

I think what's happened is the Right has pushed the politics of this
country and state further right, and there have been too many Democratic
collaborators and weaklings like Steve Westly. I stand at what has always been
the center of our politics. There are too many Democrats who measure their
progress by how much they have retreated. Where was Steve Westly when this
governor was turning kids away from college? He was saying to a business group
"my job is to make this guy successful."

***

Westly and Garry South have leveled personal attack after personal attack.
I've refrained from that. But I am going to draw differences. I have a plan to
balance the budget and fully fund schools. He has none. I stood up early to
HMOs, I stood up early for SB 2. When I was supporting it, he was abstaining on
it. On issue after issue he just wasn't there

***

Whoever is governor next year is going to face a $3.8 billion deficit.
Westly has already said he wants to pay back the school money Schwarzenegger
took over four years. That would boost the budget gap to $4.6 billion. Plus
Westly has proposed a set of new programs: free community college for some kid's
who finish their degrees, Wilma Chan's health-care bill for children. He's got
no credible way to close it. I'm willing to close the gap, which would be $5.3
billion. That's three-tenths of 1 percent of our entire economy. It's peanuts.
When you measure it against what Pete Wilson did [in 1991] it's a third as large
I'm going to ask in taxes when you compare it to the size of the economy and the
budget. It's a quarter as large as what Ronald Reagan asked for in '67.

Whew! I've been so busy lately, I haven't updated here much. Phil got some great press from his hometown newspaper this past week. The Sacramento Bee was all Phil! Phil! Phil!.

First it was Dan Weintraub, expanding on his blog post of a few weeks ago in a full column. Again, I'm not a big fan of Weintraub, but he's been decent to Phil.

Either way, the debate Angelides is trying to provoke is good for the state. Whether you think he's dead right or simply crazy, voters should be happy that he's had the guts to tell people where he stands and put this touchy issue on the table.

Gutsy... That's what we like to hear.

Then there was an editorial last Sunday in the Bee as well.

Last year, this page chided Treasurer Phil Angelides for urging extra spending on almost everything - schools, the elderly, the poor, transportation - without a plan to pay for it. Angelides has since provided a enough details to make him the most candid of the three on this thorny subject.

The Bee's editors are coming around to Phil... now more voters need to as well.

Finally there was Peter Schrag. I like Peter Schrag. He's a great writer and seems to be a really smart guy, who truly loves California. Here's what he had to say:

In the primary at least, Angelides is running as the unabashed New Deal Democrat, talking about helping the young by cutting corporate and upper income tax loopholes for people already getting a windfall in federal tax cuts. Westly is the candidate of modest and sometimes mushy generalities.

Schwarzenegger's 2006 shtick has yet to be revealed.

Mushy generalities is right. Oh, that and lottery reform. Which should pay for about one pencil per student.

Oddsmakers have Phil Angelides as the favorite to win the governor's race this year, according to the SF Chronicle. Lookie here. The permalink doesn't appear to work. Scroll down to Monday, Apr. 11, 2006.