Angelides on "Which Way LA?"

KCRW's flagship political show is "Which Way LA?" with Warren Olney. Phil Angelides sat down for 20 minutes with him last night and I thought he acquitted himself very well. You can hear it here.

Olney is very astute and pretty fair, and he asked the fair question of whether or not Arnold's recent deals with leaders in the Democratic legislature, on infrastructure bonds, on the minimum wage, on prescription drugs, etc., is depriving Angelides of issues he could use in November. It's one of those sucker questions where there's no good answer. If Phil says yes, he sounds like a political opportunist and an obstructionist. If Phil says no, he sounds like he's giving ground to Arnold. I think he answered it as good as it could possibly be answered.

WO: Haven't they (the Democratic legislature) deprived you of issues you could otherwise use? Is it good when Democrats do that? Or should they be more attuned to the needs of your campaign?

PA: Oh, no. They need to be attuned to the needs of millions of Californians. They need to fight to increase the minimum wage. They need to fight to make prescription drugs more affordable. It's what I believe in. It's what we oughta be doing in this state. Now the question is, do you want a governor who's faking being a Democrat for three months? Or do you want to elect someone who really embraces this agenda, who will move us forward. For example, on the minimum wage, do you want a governor who will index it to inflation, so that never again are low-wage workers pushed into poverty because of political acts like the governor's two vetoes? ... You know that old Truman line? "Given the choice between a real Republican and a fake Republican, people will always pick the real one?" In this instance, the Governor is faking being a Democrat, and if you want someone who truly embraces these issues and will for four years, I hope Californians will vote for me.

I'm sorry, but that's pretty brilliant. Calling Arnold "Democrat-lite" is a great effort to leverage the power of Democratic values to shape an election. The Republicans tell you exactly what they believe, and the electorate can tell when they see the other side shift to the right. The exact opposite is happening here and Angelides is calling them on it. If it's a choice between a Democrat and Democrat-lite, we'll win. The question is whether or not this will gain traction.

Listen to the whole thing, including a roundtable at the end that goes to the edge of suggesting that Angelides' new messaging has given him the momentum in the race. I'm eager to see the next poll.