Lockyer to run for TreasurerOne of the three Democrats considered to be
contending for Governor in 2006 has announced a change of
plans:
He's running for the job vacated by one of the other contenders. State Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who had
strongly hinted that he would be running to
replace Schwarzenegger, has decided instead to run for Phil Angelides' current
job: State Treasurer.
His announcement has every single one of the indications of a standard political wuss-out: Objections to the process, an assertion of desire to spend more time with his family... Lockyer changes plans, will run for state treasurer (AP) Attorney General Bill Lockyer dropped plans to run for governor Thursday and said he would instead run for state treasurer, citing a wish to avoid the character attacks and money chase required to take on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. ...and the claim that he, you know, would have won anyway if he'd tried. Yes, Bill, but those grapes were sour anyway, so it's probably best that you didn't. I'm sure the fact that you voted for Schwarzenegger in the recall election wouldn't have come back to haunt you at all. Unless Rob Reiner suddenly changes his mind, or some other prominent Democrat decides to enter the race, Lockyer's switcheroo narrows the field to two: Treasurer Phil Angelides (who has announced his candidacy) and Controller Steve Westly (who is "exploring"). I saw Lockyer as being the moderate choice in the three-way race: He wasn't the anti-Schwarzenegger firebrand and liberal darling (Angelides), but neither was he the Governor's li'l buddy, long accustomed to reflected light from the Governor's celebrity and late to the game of Arnold-bashing. But as much as Americans like to split the difference, I don't think that Lockyer's moderation was an asset for him in this race. He voted for Schwarzenegger in the recall, so he was burdened with the same albatross as Westly: At some point he'd have to start busting on the Gov, which would allow his opponents to remind voters that he'd once supported Schwarzenegger (i.e., he's illiberal) or instead focus on the fact that he changed his mind (i.e., he's indecisive or hypocritical). His job has forced him (kicking and screaming, I'm told, though you wouldn't know it by reading his press releases) to materially oppose gay marriage, a liberal hot-button issue if there ever was one. While this might help him among conservative Democrats, I think the sort of folk who are called "conservative Democrats" in the rest of the country generally vote in the California Republican primary, so the issue works against him in the race for the nomination. I'm sure Bill has figured all this out, as well as identified himself as on the deep end of the charisma gap (he's neither the good-looking one nor the impressive speaker in a three-person field), so it's probably good for Bill that he dropped out when he did. What is the upshot of this for the rest of the field? How will Phil and Steve divvy up the votes? It's hard to say -- I'm the first to admit that living in the Bay Area puts me out of touch with the sorts of folks who vote Democratic but live in Fresno or Bakersfield or San Diego -- but I suspect that most of the folks who would have gone for the moderate Lockyer will respond less favorably to Angelides' fiery partisan rhetoric and more favorably to Westly's white-bread sensibility. So: on the balance, better news for Steve than for Phil. I think. We'll see. More elsewhere: Lockyer Changes Directions, Will Run For Treasurer (Dropping the Gloves, who's lately doing a better job than Marching Orders of rapidly posting on newswire stories) Posted: Thu - April 28, 2005 at 03:35 PM | Category: | | | |
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Total entries in this category: Published On: Jul 23, 2006 02:49 PM |
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