The Anti-Arnold?

I'm sure not many people in the other 49 states were paying much attention to Tuesday's primary here in California. What you probably know is that our current governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, hasn't been all that popular lately and that he's up for re-election. Now we know who the Democrats have annoited to slay the Terminator. Here's a look at the Demo-Gladiator Tuesday night:

Demo-Terminator-Terminator?

His name is Phil Angelides, the current state Treasurer. He won a plurality in a nasty, nasty campaign with his opponent Steve Westly, 48% to 43%. He looks a little bit like Ichabod Crane to Schwarzenegger's Terminator. How's that for a match-up?

Here's the rest of the joke. After all the terrible things that Westly said about Angelides and all the terrible things that Angelides fired back about Westly, even the staunchly pro-Democrat and anti-Arnold Los Angeles Times has to admit that Angelides now has his own "negatives" in their polls that outweigh Schwarzenegger's. Even so, Angelides has joined the fall campaign fired up, calling himself the "Anti-Arnold" and the games now begin.

Still, the reality on the ground today is that Arnold is now the favorite for a second term come November. It's like one of his movies. The hero has to be down, almost out, so that he can come back in the third act and kick some butt. If I were Phil Angelides, I'd start putting in more time at the gym...