California: Phil Angelides

John Garamendi has become the first gubernatorial candidate on the Democratic side to speak out publicly about the crime perpetrated on the citizens of California by a dysfunctional process.  
Lt. Gov Garamendi: I've been listening to what you had to say about Republicans in the Senate and Congress, we have an infection here and it's a Republican infection that's really spreading across this nation. Just what do they propose to do? Shut everything down? They did that with Newt Gingrich. They seem to want to do that in California and we're saying no way. no how. We're gonna build, we're going to go with Obama.

California’s next gubernatorial election is more than 31 months away, but a national Democratic organization already sees the now-Republican seat as a prime target in 2010.

“California is certainly one to look at,” said Nathan Daschle, the executive director of the Democratic Governors Association, an independent, Washington-based organization devoted to supporting Democratic gubernatorial incumbents and nominees across the country. “That’s a seat I can see going our way.”