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Monday, June 19, 2006

Why Can't California Be More Like Montana?

Posted by DavidNYC

Montana:

Montana Democrats Barnstorm for Unity

After what could have turned into a divisive primary election, Montana Democrats rallied in four cities Friday to show that the state the party is united behind Jon Tester in what promises to be a no-holds-barred U.S. Senate race against Republican incumbent Conrad Burns this fall.

California:

Tension Builds Between L.A. Mayor, Angelides

Tension between Antonio Villaraigosa and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Angelides surfaced Friday as the Los Angeles mayor declined to say whether he backed his own party's candidate to unseat Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

It looks to me like Dems in Cali are living up an old credo: They never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. All I can say is, someone better bash a few heads in over on the left coast before Angelides and Villaraigosa give the media any more fodder for one of their favorite evergreens, "Dems in Disarray." Maybe we should send Brian Schweitzer over there to whoop some ass.

Posted at 03:29 PM in 2006 Elections - Senate, 2006 Elections - State, California, Montana | Technorati

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Comments

I like what I'm reading about the Montana stump-for-unity gatherings, but I would like it even more if I saw them exploiting the news value of the Tester/Morrison reconciliation not only to lend a hand to Monica Lindeen (which they're doing) but also to lend some visibility to the slate of Democrats running to flip seats in the state legislature.
There appear to be a fistful of excellent bench candidates among the 2006 hopefuls, and one might think both the Governor and Tester would be keenly aware of the importance of getting a few of them into office.

Posted by: Christopher Walker at June 19, 2006 05:16 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Another sad comparison: When Morrison and Tester campaigned, they each attacked Burns, but never each other. In Calif, Angelides and Westley seemed to do nothing but attack each other -- and in ways almost everyone could see were distorted and unfair.

As to Villaraigosa, if he keeps this up, I have to hope that all calif dems resolve never to support him in a state-wide race. What a way to blow being a rising star.

Posted by: hilltopper at June 19, 2006 05:30 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Angelides has his enemies. As to why Villargairosa would pull this, given his possible future in the CA Dem party, unknown. Antonio did not endorse either Westly or Angelides in the primary.
Its not all bad news ot here (at least not for the rest of our Dem ticket:

"Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) surprised his Republican base Thursday when he implied he might endorse some of the Democratic nominees for statewide office. While he made a point a praising conservative Lieutenant Governor nominee Tom McClintock (R), Schwarzenegger is known to not look very favorably upon the GOP nominees for State Treasurer and State Controller -- as both as social conservatives who defeated candidates in the primary closely aligned with him. Asked by reporters if he would consider endorsing some Democrats, the Gov told a Sacramento Bee reporter: "If I like someone, absolutely." Later in the day, speaking through his campaign manager, Schwarzenegger backtracked. He explained Schwarzenegger is officially supporting all of the down-ticket Republican candidates for stare offices. Yet, when asked if the Governor was supporting GOP nominee Dick Mountjoy against US Senator Dianne Feinstein, Schwarzenegger manager said: "Like most Californians, he thinks Dianne Feinstein is a great Senator." This set off more speculation, so reporters asked Schwarzenegger if he planned to endorse Mountjoy. The response: "I have not been asked to do that and I have no intention to go there." Mountjoy seemed to take the shot in stride. "He'd have to tell me what his problem is with me. I pretty much stick to the Republican platform, so he might be going against the Republican platform," said Mountjoy. Pundits who follow Schwarzenegger said this is his typical way of launching a trial balloon to gauge the likely response."
Ron Gunzburger (Politics1) 6/9/06

Like I said, we should have gone with Westly, cause this wouldn't be happening, ah well, would still rather be here than MT given our two Dem US Senators, and Dem heavy Congressional delegation and State Legislature. Billings, no thanks, I'll keep San Fran..LOL.

Posted by: Predictor at June 19, 2006 10:24 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

You know, David, I'm actually going to have to say that you've forgotten a few important ingredients here--

(a) Jon Tester is a class act who knew he had to play his cards right if he wanted any chance of getting elected (early negative = early loser in such a small state)
(b) Once the Morrison scandal broke, contrary to what a lot of polls were telling us (that Morrison was hanging on), the Morrison campaign pretty much knew that they were going down.

I think those two factors made it a lot easier for MT-Dems to get back together for the fight against Conrad.

Posted by: drbathroom at June 20, 2006 02:05 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Villaraigosa wants Schwarzenegger to win, so that the next gubernatorial election will be wide open for his own ambitions.

I'm thrilled about the emerging blueness of the Big Sky, though-- who woulda thought we'd be wishing California were more like Montana!?!?!?

Posted by: The Caped Composer at June 20, 2006 09:35 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

The proverbial "s" is hitting the fan regarding Schwartzenegger and Mountjoy vs. Feinstein:
"GOP candidate seeks Schwarzenegger 's backing
But governor may prefer Feinstein over conservative"
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/20/BAG1UJGQGA1.DTL&type=politics

And yes, it is possibly beneficial to Villagairosa's future to have an open seat in 2010, read: re-elect Arnie. However, this manouver may not help him in the 2010 Dem primary.

Posted by: Predictor at June 20, 2006 12:25 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Oh geeze, guess "Server Error" meant post it 3 times, sorry bout that.

Posted by: Predictor at June 20, 2006 12:32 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Dr - I don't dispute that there are several material differences between the situation in CA and MT. Regardless, though, the Dems in CA need to be team players, no matter what the underlying context may be.

Posted by: DavidNYC at June 20, 2006 07:02 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

http://raisingkaine.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3175

Democratic Unity rally in Charlottesville, VA.

Posted by: msnook at June 21, 2006 12:20 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Between their slavish devotion to their machine base and the big money it takes to run in California, I fear that the dems are slowly but surely losing their grip on the state. Bad. Can you expect people to get excited about the slew of party hacks that float to the top around here? Almost the entire slate in the statewide races this year are recycled hangers-on, and that's going to kill democratic turnout, democratic congressional candidates, and local candidates this year.

Yuck.

Posted by: jeffy hirschbeck at June 21, 2006 02:56 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

June Zogby Calif Gov:
Angelides 44.6%
Schwarzen 44.5%
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-flash05a.html?project=elections06-ft&h=495&w=778&hasAd=1&mod=blogs

Posted by: Predictor at June 22, 2006 05:22 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment