Initiative Drive Puts '06 Governor's Race in Gear

SACRAMENTO — It's after Labor Day and the campaign has begun: endorsements, dueling news conferences, TV ads, a rowdy party convention and the requisite release of a candidate's tax returns.

Only it's the wrong Labor Day.

Californians won't choose a governor for 14 months, but thanks to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the state is experiencing a gubernatorial race far earlier and more intensely than in previous years.

Schwarzenegger has called a special election for this November, not next year when he is up for reelection. That has added heat at a time when politicians traditionally would be trying in vain to get attention while also quietly filling their war chests.

The special election has allowed Schwarzenegger and his chief rivals to piggyback on the tens of millions of dollars being collected for the Nov. 8 initiative fight, promoting themselves along the way. It will allow Schwarzenegger to appear in more TV ads than he might otherwise.

"It allows him to kick-start his reform package but also his gubernatorial campaign -- by being very present in the voters' minds and constantly dominating the airwaves," said Kathay Feng, executive director of California Common Cause.

State treasurer and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides is helping public employee unions in their effort to defeat four initiatives the Republican governor has backed on the Nov. 8 ballot. That gives him more airtime and media attention than he normally would have at this point in a campaign.

When Schwarzenegger announced last week in San Diego that he was endorsing Proposition 75, which could curb the use of union dues for political purposes, Angelides rented a room across the street at a Hilton Hotel to slam the governor as a tool of corporate interests.

The day before, when Schwarzenegger announced he was running for reelection, the Democratic candidate held a news conference at his Sacramento campaign office to attack the governor. In both cases, he received widespread media coverage.

Tuesday, Angelides held an event at a Sacramento middle school -- one that Schwarzenegger visited last year -- to announce that Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) had endorsed him. The two Democrats were surrounded by schoolchildren.

Dan Newman, communications director for Angelides, said the special election "brings clarity" to the treasurer's effort to defeat Schwarzenegger in 2006: "There is no more pretending to be a different type of governor. He has dropped all pretenses of moderation."