Candidates’ Similarities Leave Voters Undecided

A "record number" of undecided voters on Tuesday will select the Democratic gubernatorial nominee during the statewide primary election, the Oakland Tribune reports.

According to a Field Poll, candidates Steve Westly and Phil Angelides each have about one-third of the Democratic votes, but more than one-quarter of Democratic voters remain undecided.

Political analysts and strategists said the deadlock and voter indecision likely is caused by "burnout from too many recall, special and regular elections in recent years," as well as by the similarities of the candidates, according to the Tribune (Geissinger, Oakland Tribune, 6/5).

Although Westly, state controller, and Angelides, state treasurer, have similar positions on a number of issues, they differ on health care and tax issues. Angelides supports legislation to create a single-payer, state-run health system, while Westly supports universal health care but would take incremental steps to adopt such a system, the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Marinucci/Wildermuth, San Francisco Chronicle, 6/4).

Also on Tuesday, voters in Santa Clara County will vote on Measure A -- a half-cent sales tax that would fund the county's public health system and transportation projects.

According to an editorial in the San Jose Mercury News, "Nothing on Tuesday's ballot is more important" to the county "than approving Measure A."

"There is no sign that the state or federal governments will remedy the health care crisis in this decade of even the next," the editorial states, adding, "If we want a sure safety net here, we need to pay for it" (San Jose Mercury News, 6/4).