The race for governor of California between Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and State Treasurer Phil Angelides has kept many in California glued to their television sets, newspapers, and radios. The competitiveness of both candidates has lead to countless moments of retaliation and discomfort. However, the polls show that fewer people support Phil Angelides, despite his success in the one and only debate on
October 7, 2006 with Governor Schwarzenegger. The results of such polls and records surprise a number of voters. Phil Angelides has quite the resume and character, it seems, to become the governor of California. In addition to being a graduate of Harvard University, Phil Angelides has formed his own successful business that built the community of Laguna West and has been Chair of the California Democratic Party.
Angelides, a Democratic candidate, is tremendously focused on helping middle class families. The majority of his plans include ways to help middle class families to succeed in education and job opportunities. It should be noted, however, that Phil Angelides intends to help everyone in California (regardless of his main focus on middle class families) by creating a cleaner California, supporting small businesses, and restoring funds for basic research at the University of California.
Not much went on during the debate between Governor Schwarzenegger and State Treasurer Angelides. Both began with thank-you’s to everyone for coming (they seemed to have missed one or two people on the face of the earth), using up a good twenty minutes. However, it was Angelides who came out firing and was more aggressive than Schwarzenegger throughout the rest of the face-off. In fact, when Governor Schwarzenegger said that he regretted the way he displayed his election reforms, Angelides fired back, saying, “The governor said the ideas he promoted last year were good ideas — it was apparently a good idea to attack working men and women in this state; it was apparently a good idea to try and slice education in this state.”
The State Treasurer has criticized Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger the most by associating him with President George W. Bush several times. He has accused both Governor Schwarzenegger and President Bush of defending the rich and enormous corporations, while weakening the middle class. He stresses Governor Schwarzenegger’s false promises of improving the lives, economic security, and education of people in California.
To support his disapproval of the President and Governor, Phil Angelides has promised to improve California’s financial plan by, as he puts it, “balancing the budget, including a tax cut for middle class families.” He vows to remove low-priority programs and boost the productivity of state operations. Furthermore, Angelides promises to make colleges more affordable by cutting the cost of California’s colleges back to how they were before Schwarzenegger took office.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has blamed Phil Angelides for not taking care of his responsibilities. As State Treasurer, Angelides is responsible for finances for pollution clean-up, small businesses, health care, housing, economic development, and student loans. Angelides is, in fact, responsible for these finances. Yet, as governor, Schwarzenegger has higher authority, and can only accuse Angelides for losing the money he is responsible for, and what the state decides to do with it.
It will be fascinating to know what the outcome of the race will be, but it will be even better if California’s next governor will remember what promises he made and actually put them into action. Ultimately, the result of the race for governor of California will be heavily reliant on the voters. Hopefully, those supporting both Governor Schwarzenegger and State Treasurer Angelides will stream into voting booths on November 7, 2006. The state of California is standing by.
