http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_4578034
Dem stars rally on campus
Angelides comes to PCC
By Cortney Fielding Staff Writer
Article Launched:10/30/2006 10:55:25 PM PST
PASADENA - Hoping to breathe life into a flagging gubernatorial run, Democrats on Monday turned out a cast of party all-stars for Phil Angelides at a Pasadena City College appearance.
Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, state Assembly Speaker Fabian Nu ez and California Sen. Barbara Boxer all gave the California treasurer ringing endorsements, while telling about 370 PCC students that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger does not have their best interests in mind.
"It's not enough to have a governor that acts like a Democrat on Election Day. Phil Angelides will be a Democrat every single day," said Boxer.
Angelides came to the campus to tout his planned education reforms, including a repeal of college tuition increases enacted under Schwarzenegger and an expansion of financial aid programs.
"There are a lot of people counting on us: the millions of kids coming after you," he told the crowd, adding that government must do more than "just lavish more on those who have the most."
But while the students showed proper enthusiasm for Angelides by waving his signs and wooing and booing at the right places, the energy in the room clearly belonged to Kerry. He took the stage to roaring applause and left it only to be mobbed by students and reporters.
Kerry charmed the crowd with tales of surfing at Mission Beach and got laughs for a series of one liners, including telling the crowd he had just returned from Texas, "Where the president used to live - now he lives in a state of denial."
Kerry then told the students that if they were able to navigate the education system, they could get comfortable jobs - "If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq," he said to a mixture of laughter and gasps.
With a week left until the Nov. 7 election, the stop was just part of a whirlwind stumping tour for Angelides, as he tries to close in on Schwarzenegger. Some polls put the governor 18 points ahead.
During the stop, Angelides mentioned the "politics of George Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger," but generally stuck to his own story as the grandson of Greek immigrants and a grandmother who worked 15 hours a day as a seamstress.
Before concluding his remarks, he urged the crowd to overlook the seemingly insurmountable gap and get out the vote for him.
"We are all going to be judged in history," he said, "by how we are willing to stand our ground when it's toughest."
Afterward, students said they were pleasantly surprised with Angelides - although many said they would have voted for him regardless.
"It made me feel better about giving my vote to him," Kandist Mallett said.
But she added, "The highlight was definitely John Kerry."