Angelides hopes ground game will rally core Democrats on Tuesday

As Democrats across California prepare to cast their ballots on Tuesday, the
differences between Phil Angelides and Steve Westly are clear to millions of
Californians who know Angelides is the one candidate they can count on to
stand up for Democratic values and who has a vision of where he will lead
California. In communities around the state, committed Democrats are
rallying to Angelides’ call, speaking to their neighbors and working hard to
deliver an Angelides victory on June 6. Thousands of Angelides supporters
are poised to teach Steve Westly a $35-million lesson: Ads on the air are no
substitute for support on the ground.

Throughout the state, thousands of Californians are walking precincts and
phone banking to encourage their friends and neighbors to vote for
Angelides. In addition to the Angelides 2006 campaign effort, supporting
organizations are pulling out all of the stops for an Angelides victory. By
8:00 p.m. on June 6, teachers, firefighters, students, police officers,
health-care workers, and others will have talked to nearly half a million
voters by knocking on doors and calling their members to get out the vote
for Phil Angelides. And by Election Day, more than 2.5 million pieces of
mail supporting Angelides’ candidacy will be delivered to working families
throughout the state.

The efforts of endorsing organizations bolster Angelides 2006’s
groundbreaking online A-TEAM organizing campaign. With nearly 70,000 online
supporters, the campaign has recruited volunteers in every county of the
state, people who have opened their homes for Angelides house parties and
have brought new supporters to the campaign.

The Angelides campaign–via the A-TEAM–is the first campaign to make
statewide use of cutting-edge, Web-based technologies that allow supporters
to print walk-and-phone lists at home. More than 20,000 voters have been
contacted by Angelides volunteers who on their own have turned houses,
apartments and dorm rooms across the state into campaign offices using this
technology. Volunteers can even use scripts in Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin,
Tagalog, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese to speak with voters that may be
more comfortable conversing in a language other than English. For Angelides
supporters, getting involved in a political campaign has never been easier.

Importantly, unlike his primary opponent, Angelides has given Californians a
compelling reason to join his campaign. California’s teachers, firefighters,
students and working families know they can count on Angelides to stand up
for Democratic values. They know that Angelides is the only candidate with a
plan to fully fund our schools by closing corporate tax loopholes and by
asking the wealthiest 1 percent of Californians pay their fair share. They
know that Angelides can be counted on to do what’s right, no matter what the
polls or pundits say.

By contrast, despite tremendous resources, the Westly campaign has lacked
both vision and substance, amounting to little more than tens of millions of
dollars worth of deceptive TV attack ads. As Westly’s oversized bus meanders
through the state, we hear that he has found himself greeted mostly by tepid
crowds. Evidently, Westly’s grassroots outreach plan was kept on the shelf
next to his secret plan to fully fund education.

Now, with the race drawing to a close, we see that Westly’s millions of
dollars in early television advertising might have been good for a
temporary, artificial bump in the polls, but failed to deliver either the
message or momentum to drive ground support in a competitive race. All the
while, the Angelides campaign has gained steady momentum as Democrats learn
more about him and embrace his vision for California’s future.

Inspired by his call to fully fund education and build the California of our
dreams, Californians are joining campaign co-chairs senators Barbara Boxer
and Dianne Feinstein, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Assembly
Speaker Fabian N