Angelides Reaches Out To Blacks and Labor

OAKLAND, Calif. (KCBS)  -- As early voting begins in California, Democrat Phil Angelides is barn-storming the state trying to make his party's core supporters from defecting to the governor.

Angelides made stops in Modesto, Stockton, Oakland, and San Francisco, part of the “Always on Your Side” bus tour.

In Oakland, the state Treasurer who remains behind the governor in the polls delivered his latest stump speech, where he accused the governor of lying during last Saturday’s debate.

Schwarzenegger’s campaign staff says the accusations are “desperate rhetoric from a candidate who's going from shrill to nasty.”

Angelides is trying to mount a comeback that he insists he can still pull off.

“This is going to be a barn burner of an election. Arnold Schwarzenegger has spent a mint and the guy's not over 50 percent. This is ours to take, and I'm ready to take it,” Angelides told KCBS reporter Doug Sovern.

In San Francisco, Angelides met with black religious leaders, including many who now support Governor Schwarzenegger’s re-election bid. Amos Brown, pastor of the Third Baptist Church, noted that the governor actively courted the black vote.

“The governor reached out to the African American community, and Mr. Angelides took the community for granted,” Brown said.

Schwarzenegger met with a coalition of black newspaper, radio and television stations, an invitation Angelides twice rescheduled. Some African Americans also point to Schwarzenegger’s executive order requiring small businesses to work with minority-owned businesses, and an emphasis on education, as proof of his interest in issues affecting blacks.