State Treasurer Phil Angelides went on the offensive first.  Before and then during the planned debate, he blasted opponent State Controller Steve Westly – portraying him as a “sidekick” of Governor Schwarzenegger - while he calls himself the “anti-Arnold:”

  
“On the tough fights that have faced this state, too often Steve Westly cuts and runs. He does what’s easy, not what’s right.”

Westly shot back:

 “I think he is going negative, because he knows he is falling behind, and desperate candidates do desperate things.”

Recent private polls show Westly doing better against the Governor than Angelides … but the Treasurer insists that’s not his motive...he says it’s time to distinguish himself from his opponent.   During the debate, tax increases surfaced as a major area of difference – with Angelides favoring some increases, and Westly saying they should be a last resort.