SACRAMENTO — If the historic recall election three years ago upended California politics, the race between Democrat Phil Angelides and Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006 has returned the political system to its regularly scheduled programming.
Between state Treasurer Angelides and the incumbent Gov. Schwarzenegger, there is little talk about sweeping away special interests or transforming the political system as we know it.
Instead, potential voters have been given a choice between established politicians from the two major parties, each with traditional corporate or union backers, each with slightly different but relatively mainstream views on public policy.
Still, an unusual and important factor hangs over the campaign, and brings a benefit to the incumbent: Schwarzenegger's status as a worldwide celebrity.
"That celebrity has consistently brought out more media coverage, more cameras, than anything I have seen at an Angelides event," said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a USC professor and expert on California politics. "It must be terribly frustrating for Angelides."
Few jobs in the United States are as powerful as California governor. Only the president and the Chicago mayor make more political appointments. The Legislature sends more than 1,000 bills to the governor every year. The vast state bureaucracy regulates nearly every aspect of California life. It provides healthcare and educates millions.
When voters choose the next person for that powerful job, their choice will look much like offerings from the past: a liberal Democrat against a centrist Republican. When Angelides and Schwarzenegger differ, there are few surprises.
That's the case on many issues -- for example, on immigration, one of the most important to voters, according to recent polls.
Angelides and Schwarzenegger agree that illegal immigrants should be "put on a path to citizenship," but only after paying a fine and back taxes, learning English and getting in line behind people who are attempting to become citizens legally. Both have called for a more civil debate on the explosive issue.
The two men's biggest difference concerns the California National Guard. Angelides says he would not use federalized state troops to police the U.S.-Mexico border. Schwarzenegger sent more than 1,000 troops to the border on a limited deployment at the request of President Bush to back up federal border agents, but rejected a later Bush administration call for more.
