Sacramento

On the first morning of the state Democratic convention in April, a room full of delegates brought together by the California Labor Federation got a tasty extra with their standard hotel ballroom breakfast. State Treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides stood before them, and after a heroic introduction from US Representative Nancy Pelosi, he proceeded to dish out industrial-sized portions of just the sort of fare for which hungry and disappointed Democratic activists from coast to coast have been longing. Here was a fighting, unrepentant Dem. "If we do this right, if we stand up for working men and women, if we stand up for the Democratic principles of fairness that built this country," said the tall, wonkish-looking 52-year-old candidate, his voice rising, his right hand churning the air with every syllable, "if we campaign with passion and principle, then come November of this year we are going to drive Arnold Schwarzenegger out of the Statehouse!"

After the thunderclaps of applause, Angelides--who has been campaigning as an unabashed liberal--moved on to the rhetorical dessert. "After thirty years of assault from the right," he told the labor delegates, "we're going to go back on the offensive and we're going to have a government on the side of hardworking men and women, and California is going to be a model."

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