From Eureka to San Diego, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his newly minted Democratic challenger Phil Angelides churned across California and clashed over tax increases Wednesday as they opened their five-month battle over the state's top office.
A day after defeating rival Steve Westly in a ferocious Democratic primary, Angelides turned his focus to the Republican governor, portraying him as an untrustworthy champion of President Bush's conservative agenda.
"This is a governor who said he'd protect education, and then he slashed money to the classroom," Angelides, the state treasurer, told supporters at a Universal City celebration with other Democratic winners in Tuesday's primary.
"This is a governor who said he'd balance the budget, and then he borrowed billions. This is a governor who said he would be the people's governor, then at each and every turn, he has sided with the most powerful interests against the interests of hard-working Californians."
Schwarzenegger, in turn, called his rival "out of touch." On a campaign bus trip across a rural northern stretch of the Central Valley, the governor faulted Angelides -- although not by name -- for supporting a failed ballot measure, Proposition 82, that would have raised taxes on high-income Californians to establish universal preschool.
"I don't think we should raise taxes," Schwarzenegger said. "We don't need to punish people for the shortcomings of Sacramento."
The election results Tuesday reasserted the potency of two staples in California politics: organized labor and incumbency. Unions strongly favored Angelides over Westly, and his victory follows labor's success in defeating Schwarzenegger's ballot measures in the November special election.
Incumbents, too, fared well, even at a time of voter unhappiness with the direction of the state and nation. No one seeking reelection to Congress or the Legislature lost a party nomination race.
In the general-election contest for governor, Schwarzenegger starts in far better political shape than many would have imagined just a few months ago, when he was reeling over his special-election debacle. But since then, his approval ratings have risen steadily as he has distanced himself from his conservative base and tried to widen his appeal in the Democratic-leaning state.
By contrast, Angelides must recover from the damage wrought by a scathing primary campaign waged against him by Westly, the state controller.
