(LOS ANGELES) – Despite most individuals’ lack of zeal, the race for the governor’s seat is just around the corner. The candidates are Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and that other guy.

Who is that other guy? Well, after a Wikipedia search, someone would find out that the other candidate is Phil Angelides, current state treasurer. Why is so little known about Angelides? Why is he continuing to take the underdog position in each publicly released gubernatorial candidate poll? The answer: Phil Angelides has not run an effective campaign.

The No. 1 course of action in a campaign is to talk about issues people care about. How can you be an elected official if you don’t represent the electorate’s concerns and address them in a meaningful way?

Over the course of the election, Angelides has not focused his effort on addressing the most immediate issue of our time – immigration. After demonstrations in the street and international media attention, his campaign has offered few solutions. It’s not even one of the seven issues on his Web site. And during a time of high fuel costs, he publicly supports Proposition 87, which places a tax on California gas in order to fuel another government program. The issues his campaign has chosen to emphasize are not priorities in the people’s minds, and this will ultimately cost him in the general election.

Originally, Angelides employed more of a base-motivation style campaign during the Democratic primaries in order to defeat Steve Westly, the more electable candidate of the two. A base-motivation strategy is a campaign strategy that puts all of its resources into getting the party base out to vote on Election Day. Independents and moderates are more difficult to motivate and get to the polls, let alone vote for a specific candidate. So resources go to motivation for the party base instead of the independents and the undecideds.

After the primary, Angelides still sought party loyalists at the cost of the independent voter, who, in California politics, is crucial to any successful campaign. He visited public employee unions like the International Longshoremen’s Association in Long Beach and National Latino Peace Officers Association. But this did not allow his message to get to the public.

Additionally, many news sources stated that Angelides was late to his own press conferences. When a candidate runs for public office, any positive news reporting about the campaign is credible, free publicity. It is, in effect, earned media attention. In an effort to get that earned media, a campaign has to cater to reporters’ schedules. Thus, if a press conference is called for 11 a.m., the candidate has to be there at 11 a.m., otherwise reporters will cash in on the opportunity costs of the conference and follow more sensational stories elsewhere. Angelides was reported by news outlets as being almost 20 minutes late for his own news conferences. Disgruntled reporters might have been defeating for the Angelides campaign.

As a result of little traction during the summer, the Angelides campaign decided to follow the typical Democratic playbook and try to peg Schwarzenegger with George W. Bush. Unfortunately for Angelides’ campaign, regular voters are a little keener to the differences between candidates of the same party. A little “R” or “D” next to a name does not mean officials share exactly the same issues. During the 2005 special election, Schwarzenegger even publicly voiced his concern over the president’s visit to California. Since Bush is a political liability in a Democratic state, the governor didn’t want him taking away headlines. Of course, they are noticeably different on environmental and social issues. But reality aside, the Angelides camp decided to attempt to play off voters’ ignorance by airing commercials linking Arnold to national policies – a factually dishonest assertion – and leading anti-war rallies sponsored by Angelides, a candidate who would not even have the ability to sign treaties. The result is the 17-point margin that heavily favors Schwarzenegger, as announced by the Survey and Policy Research Institute at San Jose State.

Fortunately, the election will be over in a few short weeks and politics in the Golden State can return to sensibility.

Well, as sensible as a world-renowned Austrian bodybuilder and a millionaire real estate developer both claiming to be “middle class” can be.