That's the very difficult message Phil Angelides has to sell to California voters this November, now that he has secured the Democrats' nomination for governor.

"Calling for a $5 billion tax increase is always a challenge, but the defeat of (Prop. 82) makes that effort even tougher,'' said Dan Schnur, a veteran GOP consultant now teaching at UC Berkeley.

If a California general election is typically a sprint to the political middle after a primary spent at the extremes of the Democratic left and Republican right, Angelides' promise to ease the state's budget woes by boosting corporate taxes and "asking multimillionaires to pay their fair share again'' could be an anchor in that race.

For all the liberalism of the state's electorate, California voters feel highly taxed — because they are. Even taxes on "the rich" don't have much political appeal, perhaps because everyone knows of businesses moved to Nevada, with job losses for not—rich friends, neighbors or relatives. Middle class homeowners continually ponder cashing out their inflated—value homes and buying nicer digs elsewhere at half the price or less.

I expect the Governator to have a handy victory. He is likely to carry with him a new Lt. Governor, Tom McClintock, who has tremendous potential to help California back onto a path of fiscal sanity.

Thomas Lifson   6 8 06