A new frontrunner strategy?

After last week's Field Poll that showed Steve Westly with a 11-point advantage over primary opponent Phil Angelides, many have wondered how that will change both campaign's strategies. For months, Angelides had essentially ignored Westly. On a radio show with Al Franken, Angelides wouldn't even say Westly's name. Angelides had focused his fire on Gov. Schwarzenegger, trying to define himself in terms of his would-be general election opponent. But now with polls showing Westly in the lead, his team sent out a missive yesterday criticizing, not Angelides, but Schwarzenegger. In September of 2003, then-recall candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger said, “The people of this state do not trust their government…. They feel it is corrupted by dirty money, closed doors, and backroom deals.” [New York Sun, September 19, 2003] Sunday’s Los Angeles Times provides us with fresh evidence that Arnold Schwarzenegger has come to embrace the system of “dirty money, closed doors, and backroom deals” he once attacked. Is that a sign that now Westly will start to focus his fire on Schwarzenegger, not Angelides?