CDP Update 4 – Anglides Gets Convention Endorsement with 68%!

I was a bit tired after a long day of politiciking and spinning and what not, so I’m posting a bit late – but Phil Angelides won the vote for the CDP endorsement with 68% of the vote. So my little prediction earlier was entirely wrong. I’m not afraid to admit it.
The vote itself wasn’t revealed until late last night, but you heard about it when the loud whoops and yells of Angelides’ supporters late that night. It was truly a sight, along with the legions of orange-shirted Westly supporters (most of whom were not actual voting delegates, but rather volunteers) who had a long look on their faces, and quickly disappeared from the evening festivities.
It was a true moment where spin, and betting on spin, paid off. In this case, Angelides campaign, which has run into some trouble because of Westly’s incredibly large TV buy (and resulting name ID and poll momentum) was starting to feel the pressure from the echo chamber, the press and political insiders. So the campaign made a calculated risk to put it all on the convention, and Westly’s campaign put together a well funded effort to make their presence known at the convention to try and block the 60% vote.
But Phil rolled a hard six, and won, bigtime. Westly made the mistake of not playing down expectations for himself, and by Saturday morning at the press conference, was clearly convinced “momentum” was on his side, and was predicting a win for himself. Big mistake. He should have played it cool and not been sucked into the hype. Instead now the Angelides campaign has something they can spin as a big moment for them, and Westly just spent a ton of money on 65 lb. pieces of beef for nada.
Now obviously most voters in this state have no idea who they’ll support for the Democratic nominee, and still, most people either don’t care, or could change their mind at any time. But in the neverland that is the world of spin, the insiders, the funders, and the press, Angelides stopped a tailspin for his campaign, and is flying high. Whether that means anything to the rest of us remains to be seen.
But for now, a chapter of political theater is over. What a night!