Sacramento — Treasurer Phil Angelides has caught up with Controller Steve Westly, the previous front-runner, in their race for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, both sides agree.
In fact, on any given night in private polling, Angelides may be running ahead. That's the good news for the liberal Democrat.
The bad news is that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been yanking the running track out from under him in a potential general election matchup.
The governor couldn't have planned this any better, even if it has resulted partly from luck -- the surprise gush of $7.5 billion in unanticipated tax receipts.
Ever since Schwarzenegger took office, Angelides has been running for governor on a promise to "fully fund" schools. But Schwarzenegger did just that in his revised budget proposal, adding $2.9 billion to school funding this year and next. He additionally agreed to pay, over seven years, $2.9 billion he owed from a previous, unkept pledge.
Angelides also long has advocated raising taxes on the "big boys" -- the chief beneficiaries of President Bush's tax cuts -- in order to finally erase the state deficit. But Schwarzenegger is getting close to eliminating the deficit without ever having increased taxes, thus keeping a promise to voters.
And for years, Angelides has preached that California should "invest in the future" by boldly rebuilding its infrastructure, emulating the great Gov. Pat Brown. Again, Angelides' message was undermined recently when Schwarzenegger and the Legislature agreed to a $37.3-billion bond package for transportation, schools, flood control and affordable housing.
The governor has been stumping all over California in recent days, side-by-side with Democratic legislators, signing the bond bills and taking a victory lap.
"It was the governor who made this happen," Senate leader Don Perata (D-Oakland) told a delegation of city officials just before Schwarzenegger signed the senator's housing bill.
At another event, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) -- Angelides' campaign co-chairman -- acknowledged Schwarzenegger's "leadership" and role in "encouraging us to get together" and compromise.
So it just got a little harder for Angelides or Westly to persuade voters -- as they easily could have last year during the divisive special election -- that Schwarzenegger is incapable of working with legislators to solve California's problems.
