Squabbling to the end, Steve Westly and Phil Angelides stormed across the state in a final burst of campaigning Monday as millions of Californians mulled their choice in today's Democratic primary for governor.
The combination of a tight race and an unusually high number of late-deciding voters added suspense and, for the candidates, urgency to the campaign's closing hours.
Traveling the breadth of Los Angeles by bus, Westly, the state controller, greeted voters one by one at restaurants, subway stations and a supermarket, with a stop at Olvera Street to make tortillas.
Angelides, the state treasurer, covered more ground. He chartered a Boeing 737 and flew from San Diego to Burbank and Oakland, then drove to Sacramento. At each stop, he showcased his union support with boisterous rallies.
Also swarming California on Monday were scores of other candidates, many of them elected officials forced by term limits to find a new job. The scramble has led to hotly contested Democratic primaries for attorney general, lieutenant governor, controller and secretary of state, and tight Republican races for treasurer and controller.
Like Westly and Angelides, candidates in those races and others still lower on the ballot targeted voters with phone calls and taped messages on their answering machines, along with one last pile of mail, much of it slashing at opponents.
Secretary of State Bruce McPherson predicted that just 38% of California's 15.7 million registered voters would cast ballots. About 1.3 million have already voted by mail. For those who have not, neighborhood polling stations are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Those who do not belong to a political party can vote on ballot measures and in nonpartisan local races. To vote in a party primary, they must request a Democratic, Republican or American Independent ballot.
If McPherson is correct, the vote would be slightly higher than in 1994 and 2002, the lowest turnouts for gubernatorial primaries in decades. Counting the ballots may be slowed, however; in Alameda County, the most Democratic of the state's populous counties, officials were to count votes by hand due to complications with electronic voting machines.
Though the governor's race was the most contentious, the most closely watched contest in California in terms of national politics was the special election in San Diego County to replace former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a Republican now in prison for taking bribes.
