Angelides Falls Into The Actor Trap

22 July 2006 |permalink | email article

Off to a stumbling start and trailing Arnold Schwarzenegger, Democrat Phil Angelides belatedly begins airing his first TV ad, a déjà vu imitation of the negative 1966 campaign tactic fatefully employed by Gov. Pat Brown to demonize Ronald Reagan. Yes, history matters.

The popular Brown was a good, even remarkable, governor dealing successfully with problems of a higher order than confronted many states. After defeating Sen. William Knowland (1958) and Richard Nixon (1962), he assumed he would win on his record of reinventing the California dream.

But problems with factionalism within the Democratic Party, rioting at UC Berkeley and the 1965 Watts riot, combined to create tension and instability. Even maverick L.A. Mayor Sam Yorty announced his candidacy just before the filing deadline.

Brown won the nomination. But his strategists successfully focused on undermining San Francisco Mayor George Christopher, the moderate Republican primary candidate on the theory Reagan was a right-winger and actor with no qualifications to be governor, wrote the esteemed New York Times L.A. bureau chief Gladwin Hill in his seminal 1968 book, “Dancing Bear.”

“They opened their campaign ‘on the extremist’ issue,‘ co-manager Bill Roberts said later. That was a mistake. It was an over-the-top issue people were tired of. I would never have attacked Reagan. He has the image of a decent person of integrity.” Reagan won by 997,000 votes.

The script for Angelides’ black–and-white spot twice says “He’s a leader not an actor.” The San Francisco Chronicle’s Carla Marinucci blogged that sources described it as a multi-million dollar investment for the party.

The earliest lead protagonist against Schwarzenegger flays him for trying to take away property tax relief for seniors, raising college tuition and fees, making drastic cuts in health care and schools etc. But the 30-second commercial fails to introduce a little known, specs nerdy politician to centrist voters in a compellingly personal way.

Savvy Democratic consultant

Bill Carrick created the ad. But it lacks the grainy drama of the legendary black-and-white bio spot - ‘Mayor Moscone has been shot’ - he created for former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein. She nearly dropped out of the 1990 gubernatorial primary because she was virtually unknown in vote rich Los Angeles County. But that 30 seconds was the catalyst that helped her defeat respected Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp by 11 points.

Brown’s actor gimmick backfired and “nice guy” Reagan won by a million votes, with substantial blue-collar Democratic support. Schwarzenegger followed that pattern in the 2003 recall, before a troubling dalliance with wing nuts. Angelides’ daunting challenge is to recapture swing moderates and independents and make it a race, one subject of future posts.

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