Angelides enlists labor, party allies

Facing underwhelming support from Democratic voters, gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides spent Thursday emphasizing his party bona fides while launching a new television ad taking aim at Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s trustworthiness and move to the political center.

But neither effort broke new ground a day after a Public Policy Institute of California poll indicated Angelides has failed to light a fire among voters who a year ago were ready to abandon Schwarzenegger.

Angelides campaigned with AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean at separate Los Angeles events, while Schwarzenegger spoke before business and government leaders at Fresno State.

Angelides began his day wading into a crowd of construction workers next to the $1-billion L.A. Live project near Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, joined by Sweeney and local labor leaders. Sweeney predicted union members would play a big role in the election.

“They are angry with the administration in Washington, and they are certainly angry with the governor here in the state of California,” Sweeney said, drawing cheers from more than 80 construction workers and union members. Polls, however, have shown that a substantial chunk of union voters are siding with Schwarzenegger.

Throughout the day, Angelides continued his effort to link Schwarzenegger to Bush administration policies, hoping to tap into national disenchantment with the Republican Party over the Iraq war and salacious e-mails by former Rep. Mark Foley to former congressional pages.

“People like George Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger think that the way you build a strong economy is you give more tax breaks to wealthy multimillionaires, you give more perks and privileges to the big corporations,” Angelides said. “I want to put government back on the side of the middle class.”

At a UCLA rally, Dean -- who briefly energized party voters in his 2004 presidential campaign -- attacked Schwarzenegger as a “faux Democrat” who would do the bidding of special interests, including oil companies, that are supporting his campaign. He cited one of the issues the governor has used to demonstrate his moderate politics:

“How can you sign a global-warming statement when you are driving a Hummer?” Dean said. “Give me a break.”

The Schwarzenegger campaign fired back in a statement by Katie Levinson, the governor’s communications director.

“When voters go to the polls 12 days from now, they will be more concerned with Phil Angelides’ plan to raise their taxes by billions of dollars than with Howard Dean’s rhetoric,” she said.

Earlier in the day, Schwarzenegger opened a meeting of the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley at Fresno State and touted what he described as an economic turnaround for the state -- and the addition of more than 650,000 jobs since the recall.

“Three years ago when the people voted me in to become the governor, I inherited a huge mess,” Schwarzenegger said. “The No. 1 challenge was to bring the economy back. We have faith in our economy and business and government again.”

But Angelides sought to shake voters’ faith in the governor. In his new ad, Angelides attacks Schwarzenegger for taking “$100 million from special interests. He cut school funding, tried to cut pensions and still says his initiatives were good ideas. He really hasn’t changed.”

The ad, launched statewide Thursday, is more emphatic than the spot he had been airing, but it isn’t likely to help him gain much ground, an analyst said.

“It’s a good spot. It makes strong points,” said Phil Trounstine, an analyst at San Jose State University and a former communications director for Gov. Gray Davis. But, he added, “I’m afraid that even if Phil can blanket the air with this ad, it’s probably too little, too late.”

Bill Carrick, who developed the ad, said the campaign plans a “significant buy” of airtime, though Angelides has been struggling with fundraising. At the end of September he had more than $2 million in cash -- not enough for a full week of television ad time -- and fundraising since then has been anemic.

“We’ve got the money to run this,” Carrick said, though he declined to say how much the campaign had to spend.

The campaign’s effort to get free publicity -- courtesy of the “Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” which earlier this month hosted Schwarzenegger -- was quashed Thursday when the Federal Communications Commission said it would not force Angelides’ appearance on the show.

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scott.martelle@latimes.com

patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com