Steve Westly

To understand politics, the adage goes, you've got to follow the money. But to understand money, it sometimes helps to follow the politicians. At least three guys who know their way around Sacramento -- former California Controller Steve Westly, former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg and former legislator and Secretary of State Bill Jones -- are trying to make a go of it in the alternative-energy industry.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's drive to recapture his image as a political centrist will make it harder for the two Democrats vying for his job to cast him as a conservative Republican out of step with middle-of-the-road Californians. In a State of the State speech Thursday that framed his campaign for reelection, Schwarzenegger minimized opportunities for the Democrats -- state Treasurer Phil Angelides and Controller Steve Westly -- to draw sharp contrasts with him.

Tapping the fortune he built as an EBay executive, state Controller Steve Westly has put $20 million into his campaign for governor -- more than enough to mount a viable bid for the Democratic nomination to challenge Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Westly, whose main rival in the June primary is state Treasurer Phil Angelides, had $24.1 million in his campaign account at the end of 2005, according to a report he released Thursday.

State Controller Steve Westly plans to launch the first television advertising of the Democratic primary for governor today, tapping his dot-com fortune in an effort to gain an early edge over rival Phil Angelides, the state treasurer. Westly's ad, a biographical spot that plays up his Silicon Valley resume, will air in several small cities around the state over the next several weeks, starting with Chico and Redding in the northern Central Valley, advisors said.

State Controller Steve Westly, a candidate for governor, was befuddled by a man he met on a recent walk between campaign stops in this Sierra foothills town. Convicted of assault with intent to do great bodily harm, the man had stayed out of trouble for years and now was seeking "special approval" to buy a gun, Westly told reporters a moment after the encounter. Asked the obvious question -- should California let such a man own a gun -- Westly dodged.

With little else to dispute, the two Democrats vying to replace Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are tussling over the most basic of voter questions: Whom can you trust? At campaign stops around the state, each of the Democrats -- state Treasurer Phil Angelides and Controller Steve Westly -- has been touting himself for weeks as the one who holds truest to his convictions.

SACRAMENTO -- Three millionaires running for governor disclosed Wednesday that they have far-flung investments in high-end hedge and venture capital funds, real estate and stock -- money that may end up helping to finance their political campaigns. Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Controller Steve Westly, seeking the Democratic nomination, have the bulk of their publicly known holdings in investment funds, their latest statements of economic interest show.

California's biggest labor group is preparing to throw its support today behind state Treasurer Phil Angelides in the Democratic primary for governor, a move that would fortify his standing as the party establishment's favorite in the race. But even with labor tilting his way, Angelides faces mounting financial pressure and questions among some party strategists about whether he has responded aggressively enough to the threat posed by his June 6 primary rival, state Controller Steve Westly.

Three years after the fiscal crisis that set the stage for the California recall, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his two Democratic rivals are paying scant attention to the painful steps still needed to overcome the state's chronic budget shortfalls. The cash crunch -- the state expects tax collections to fall at least $5 billion short of its spending within three years -- is apt to be one of the toughest challenges facing the next governor.

The two Democrats running for governor in the June primary jousted over taxes, schools, immigration and character Wednesday in a debate that marked a sharp negative turn in the race between state Treasurer Phil Angelides and Controller Steve Westly. The tart back-and-forth on Univision's "Voz y Voto" television program came as Angelides mounted a broad new offensive against Westly, abandoning months of restraint that defied the treasurer's reputation for brass-knuckle campaign tactics.