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Standing up to reality

Treasurer Phil Angelides released a new television ad today in his campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor, and it relects an interesting shift in the candidate's message. It also implicitly acknowledges that Garry South, campaign adviser to Steve Westly, was correct when he observed that Angelides' first commercial "seriously underperformed."

The problem with Angelides' first ad, according to those who have seen the reaction to it by Democratic focus groups, is that mainstream California voters didn't know enough about Angelides to understand it. The message was that Angelides has the courage to stand up for what he believes is right. The evidence for that argument is that Angelides was an early and ardent critic of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, even when the governor's approval ratings were sky high. Insiders know that. Problem is, most California voters don't. Because Angelides hadn't done the groundwork in introducing himself to voters, his message fell flat. They didn't get the ending tag line, "He stood up to Arnold. He'll stand up for you," because they essentially had no clue that Angelides had in fact "stood up to Arnold."

Note that today's commercial uses a new ending tag line: "Endorsed by California's teachers." This ad lays some important groundwork. The message is entirely about education, planting the critical message that the issue is important to him. It uses Angelides' three daughters as narrators, planting the message that he is a family man and a devoted father. And it points out the endorsement of the California Teachers Association, planting the message that those in the know about the important issue of education support Angelides.

This time around, Angelides seems to be focused on building a foundation, rather than assuming that voters know more about him than they do.