Angelides for Governor

Understand, in the end I'm voting ABA (anybody but Arnie), and I'm not all that invested in the primary. On the issues, Westly and Angelides are similar enough to make me comfortable with either. Neither is particularly charismatic or inspiring. It has been an ugly race, which I hate; unlike Kos, though, I'm not disgusted enough to stay out of it altogether.

So here's what I like about Angelides: he has used the largely ceremonial office of Treasurer to make a real difference--to use the state's investment portfolio to push for corporate integrity, environmental and social responsibility, and other good things. It could have been just a name-recognition post, but he made it more than that. Angelides is a politician who genuinely wants to accomplish things.

As Controller, Westly...not so much.

The one big advantage Westly might have is electability. Electability is a slippery thing, though. You could say that Dennis Kucinich (e.g.) will be elected president when woolly mammoths stride the glaciers of hell--that is, you can define 'electability' as a negative, as something a given politician doesn't have--but discerning it as a positive quality is pretty much an ex post facto type deal: the candidate who gets elected is, by definition, 'electable'. Westly did better than Angelides against Schwarzenegger in a poll a few months ago. In a more recent poll, they were about tied. Maybe Westly is more 'electable', but who knows? There just isn't enough evidence to make that calculation.

So I voted this morning for somebody I can affirmatively support. It was kind of a nice feeling.

[That's all, folks]