Taxes and the Democratic primary for Governor

Initially I thought Phil Angelides would become the next Governor of California. But after watching the campaign unfold, it has become clearer to me that Angelides probably could not win in the general election against Arnold, and probably will not be able to escape the primary against Steve Westly either.

Yesterday, while discussing politics in general, someone asked me which guy was going to raise our taxes. It took me a minute or two to realize that Westly's TV ads which proclaim that Angelides wants to increase tax rates by $10 billion dollars. I tried to explain it was a campaign ad that took some serious liberties with numbers. But it had made it's impact. This was a voter who would not choose Phil Angelides.

At a serious financial disadvantage, it seems Angelides has ignored Southern California and it's Republican leaning ways. On his website, however, his latest ad doesn't exactly defend the claim, but rather claims that Westly will be the one to raise our taxes. It's the perfect lose/lose strategy for Democrats in this election.

Governor Schwarzeneger is now the only one who does not have ads claiming he will raise taxes. And his campaign won't be afraid to use the words of the losing Democratic candidate against the winning one. Whomever escapes the Democratic primary season will be badly damaged and have the tax increase tag to deal with, a tag that should be hard to overcome in times of high gas prices and stagnant wages.

My hopes of a positive Democratic primary campaign were dashed long ago. To see both sides paint each other as tax and spenders has now dashed my hopes for the general election even more.

Another opportunity that may have gone to waste.