2 Run Hard in Last Lap of Gov. Race

Phil Angelides worked the aisle of a crowded Southwest Airlines flight Friday, trying to squeeze out a few more supporters as the Democratic race for governor spun through its closing days without a clear leader and with a record number of undecided voters.

“Great to meet you. Tell all your friends,” Angelides said to his fellow passengers as the jet descended to Los Angeles International Airport.

Angelides and his chief opponent for the Democratic nomination, Steve Westly, spent the day hopscotching across California’s largest cities struggling for support -- voter by voter -- with four days of campaigning left before one of the most unpredictable contests in years. A new Field Poll showed the two statistically even as the Tuesday election approached, with more than one in four Democratic primary voters undecided.

Angelides sought to shore up his union credentials by spending the day with firefighters at two events, in San Jose and on a sidewalk in downtown Los Angeles next to Fire Station No. 3. “I need your heart,” he told the San Jose crowd. “I need your passion.”

Westly touted his environmental record by touring a solar-power system plant in Fontana and praising, without naming him, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “million solar roofs” initiative to provide incentives for the purchase and use of power-generating equipment. The plan is expected to be a signature element of Schwarzenegger’s own campaign.

Westly said Angelides was “missing in action” on the plan, and he pledged to be “the most pro-solar governor California has ever had.” There were about a dozen people at the event, not including Westly’s staff, but he won at least one needed vote.

“Due to the fact that he showed up at the factory and he has got an interest in solar, he has got my vote,” said Chuck Richardson, 46, a production manager at the facility.

Most campaigns revert at the end to a tense struggle over voters, but rarely is there such uncertainty. According to a new Field Poll, the percentage of undecided Democratic primary voters -- 26% -- is the highest in the poll’s six-decade history.

Adding to the dilemma for voters is the candidates’ similarity. They hold elective state jobs; Angelides is the treasurer and Westly the controller. Both are longtime Democratic Party activists. They share similar positions on nearly every major public policy issue, but Angelides is far more definitive about wanting to raise taxes on the rich.

Both men contend that voters are undecided in part because they were little known before this spring. But Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll, said they also are failing to gather traction because of the barrage of negative ads, which tend to blunt an opponent’s progress rather than win over converts. And, he said, there is little else on the ballot to energize the electorate.

“Neither campaign seems to have struck a chord with voters,” DiCamillo said.

Speaking before about 130 firefighters near a San Jose park, Angelides decried the “unprecedented torrent” of negative ads on the airwaves. In the most recent commercials, Westly implies that Angelides participated in illegal dumping in Lake Tahoe, and Angelides suggests that Westly supported school and healthcare cuts -- both misleading accusations, at best.

“This is neck and neck,” Angelides said. “My opponent has put $34 million of his own money. He has thrown a lot of garbage at me, a lot of lies and distortions.”

Though Westly’s advantage has been his money, Angelides’ key edge is his endorsement by several major labor unions, including the California Teachers Assn., which in past races has been able to mobilize thousands of supporters to make phone calls and walk precincts.

Yet the Field Poll showed that even among households with union members, Angelides did not capture the majority -- with 45% compared to 29% for Westly. In union homes, 23% remained undecided.

To shore up union support, Angelides spent Friday in the same camera frame as firefighters. About 130 San Jose firefighters pulled an off-duty truck next to the park and crowded around it, cheering. A much smaller number -- about 20 -- stood on the Los Angeles sidewalk, one holding a sign that read “Terminate the Terminator.”

Randy Sekany, president of the San Jose firefighters union, said his members picked Angelides over Westly because Angelides was an early critic of Schwarzenegger when the governor was attempting last fall to overhaul the state’s public pension system. Union opposition doomed that effort.

“Phil was out of the gate immediately on that,” Sekany said. “Steve has worked hard and done a credible job as controller, but his record in public service is short. Phil has a 30-year record supporting public service.”

Westly, for his part, said he expected a large number of undecided labor households to end up supporting him; if they were going to support Angelides, he said, they would have decided already. Polls, he pointed out, show that voters believe he is more likely to beat Schwarzenegger.

“Even in labor, the wake-up call has gone off ... let’s back the guy who can win,” he said in an interview.

Yet with much of the Democratic establishment backing Angelides, Westly continued to turn Friday toward other sources of support. He said his campaign was sending mailers to nonpartisan voters to tell them they can cast ballots in the Democratic primary.

At a veterans home in Chula Vista, Westly emphasized his father’s and uncles’ wartime military service and pledged to work for veterans. He promised to continue to offer low-interest housing loans to veterans.

With many in the crowd Republicans, Westly tweaked his message for them.

“I happen to be a Democrat, but I’m a fiscally responsible Democrat. It’s a small group,” he said to a round of chuckles.