SAN FRANCISCO - Despite trailing in fundraising and public opinion polls, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides said Monday that this year's race has been dominated by his ideas not those of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"I mean, thank God I'm in this race. It's the only reason we've gotten three months of any kind of action from this governor that makes sense for Californians," Angelides told The Associated Press.
In an interview, Angelides fought the notion that his campaign has been too reactive, saying many of the governor's accomplishments on typically Democratic issues in this election year were originally his ideas.
He said he was first to propose doubling the number of school counselors an idea the governor adopted within weeks. He said he was first to propose lowering college tuition and fees; the governor froze fees this year for the University of California and California State University and lowered them for community colleges.
"On global warming, long before he was interested or engaged in the issue, I led our pension funds to invest $1.5 billion in renewable energy and environmental technology," he said.
Schwarzenegger last month signed a bill to cut industrial greenhouse gas emissions. On Monday, he announced that California would join with Northeast states to help power plants reduce emissions.
"I think what's interesting is how much time Gov. Schwarzenegger has spent trying to fake that he's like me," Angelides said.
The most recent independent polls have given Schwarzenegger leads of 10 to 17 percentage points. For most of September, the Republican appeared at well-publicized bill signing events, often with some of the state's top Democrats.
Angelides said those appearances don't bother him. In fact, he praised fellow Democrats for taking advantage of Schwarzenegger's generous election-year mood to win concessions from him.
"They totally outfaked him," Angelides said.
Schwarzenegger campaign spokesman Matt David said Angelides is too partisan to forge deals across the aisle.
"While leaders of both parties are celebrating a very successful legislative year, it's not surprising that Phil Angelides would try to take credit for these accomplishments," David said. "Angelides only knows one brand of politics hyper-partisan politics."
The editorial boards of two of the state's largest newspapers, the Los Angeles Times and The Sacramento Bee, endorsed Schwarzenegger.
Angelides said that "editorial boards of large corporations are not going to decide this election."
Schwarzenegger's campaign has painted Angelides as a tax-happy partisan Democrat, a tactic Republicans have used nationwide. Still, the treasurer said he thinks it's fair for corporations and the wealthiest residents to pay more so the state can give tax breaks to middle-income earners.
"If Democrats can't stand up against (tax breaks for large corporations), what can they stand up for? If Democrats can't stand up and say that people making $50,000 to $75,000 a year are getting the shaft, then what good are we?" Angelides said.
Angelides said he is confident that a surge of Democratic voters this Nov. 7 will help him.
"In the final few weeks, we're finally on television. The media's covering the race in a way where people are getting to know, finally, who I am, what I stand for," Angelides said. "And when that choice is before people in what is going to be a very big Democratic year, we are going to win this."
