Westly, on Tour, Wants to ‘Look Voters in the Eyes’

The driver of the lead bus for Steve Westly’s road tour wore a hat that read, “Relax: God is in control.” It could just as easily have broadcast the uncertainty surrounding Westly’s campaign for governor as he barreled from Redding to Cathedral City this week.

About a third of voters in recent polls say they cannot decide between Westly, the state controller, and Phil Angelides, the state treasurer and his main opponent in the Democratic primary. Disagreeing mostly on the timing of tax increases and one another’s political ethics, the two remain in an unpredictable race despite Westly’s recent lead.

The crowds greeting the Westly Wagon this week were carefully planned, though small, 20 to 40 people. Media attention was fleeting: At one point a single reporter trailed Westly in the 45-seat press bus.

“Why am I here in Redding?” Westly asked a crowd of about 20 people in a sandwich shop, echoing the question he asked at every stop. The Northern California city has a small percentage of Democratic voters.

One TV camera recorded his thoughts: “I think the undecided vote is going to break our way.”

Spending so much time with so few people may not actually affect Westly’s chances of success in 10 days. The real campaign for the Democratic nomination is on television, where the two competitors are waging a multimillion-dollar war with fierce attack ads.

The bus tour is a way to “look voters in the eyes,” Westly said. “It’s important for the people in the local community to know I was there.”

Wearing a big smile, Westly told a gathering in Fresno: “Thank God I get to spend the night in a Best Western in Tulare! It doesn’t get any better than that.”

But Westly’s inability to attract even moderate-sized crowds on the road, analysts said, speaks to a fundamental problem of his campaign: Angelides has locked up much of the traditional activist support, including the endorsement of the Democratic Party.

“If you can’t drag out more than 100 people, if nothing else than for a photo op, what does that say?” said Larry Gerston, a San Jose State political science professor and expert on California politics. “This is an entirely electronic campaign.”

Gerston said the primary will test whether a campaign can be run almost entirely through television, without the “feet and hands” of a large field operation.

Westly, 49 and boyish despite his graying hair, is almost always smiling, even when facing the hostile question. He travels with his equally pleasant wife, Anita Yu, a successful entrepreneur. She looks happily surprised whenever he points her out to the crowd, which happens a lot.

The Westly on TV seems like another candidate entirely, which highlights his difficult fight against Angelides. One of Westly’s recent ads suggests that Angelides could eventually be responsible for a Katrina-like disaster because he built houses in flood zones.

Angelides is spending much of his time answering the accusations in Westly’s ads. On Friday, he spent the fifth day in a row touting his environmental record -- the central theme of Westly’s attacks -- and launching his own campaign against Westly’s ads, which say that Angelides steered state business toward campaign contributors.

“Any attack on Phil based on the environment is unfair. It’s clearly political, and it’s made up,” said U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, who was asked by Angelides to defend him in a conference call with reporters Friday.

Westly blames Angelides for starting the TV fight -- although it was Westly who broadcast the first negative ad. Angelides’ ads are some of the harshest of the campaign, suggesting that Westly is sleazy.

“I have said if people hit us on TV, we will hit back,” Westly said on the bus. “It’s common in campaigns that the last few days will be positive. I hope that is true. We’ll see.”

The nearest Westly came to sounding negative on the road this week was a suggestion that Angelides was mean to his staff.

“I know my opponent is a much tougher person to be around,” he said to a few supporters on the bus. “There is just a good vibe here.”

Westly, who traveled by private jet to start his bus tour, left the road two nights in a row to attend fundraisers in Los Angeles. On Wednesday, Westly was the guest of honor at a party thrown by Haim Saban, a major Democratic donor and the entertainment mogul who brought the world the “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.”

The side of Westly’s land yacht encourages people to “hop on board” because Westly is out there “meeting real people where they live and work.” But at every stop -- in Redding, Chico, Modesto, Stockton, Fresno, Tulare, Bakersfield, Fontana and Cathedral City -- the events were stacked with local elected officials and a small cadre of Westly supporters who call themselves “roadies.”

Santa Rosa resident Jamei Haswell voluntarily joined the Westly Wagon for several days with her husband, Richard D. Grundy. They rode Westly’s bus for about two hours and seemed happy to just be within range of the candidate. “This guy is genuine. I heard him, and I hadn’t been inspired like that since John F. Kennedy,” Haswell said. “I know that sounds a little Pollyanna, but I’m not.”

The real world intruded periodically: Westly and his aides were continually tied to campaign managers by cellphone and Blackberry.

In Redding, a woman in an orange Westly T-shirt -- “It was free,” she said -- asked him what he was going to do about “the Mexican problem.” Westly said he would strengthen the border and put illegal immigrants on a “path to citizenship.”

A Latino woman, angry that he purports to understand immigrants simply because he “sleeps with one,” as she put it, confronted Westly at a Sacramento town hall meeting. Westly apologized to her before she stormed out.

Reminders of Angelides were everywhere as well. Fatcat, an activist in an obese cat suit and top hat, greeted Westly -- who made millions as an early EBay executive -- at every stop.

And Westly was stalked on the highway by a black Honda Accord. Someone inside held up a sign that read: “Steve, How does it feel to be behind Angelides?”