Educators and their labor allies are getting the credit for putting Phil Angelides over the top for the Democratic nomination for governor on Election Day.

 

Low voter turnout at the polls made the grassroots mobilization more critical than ever.

 

CTA won 93 percent of the races it got involved in - statewide, Assembly, state Senate and congressional. Ninety-nine of the 107 candidates recommended by CTA won their races, as did 59 percent of the local school board candidates.

 

The failure of the two ballot initiatives - Prop. 82, the Preschool for All initiative, and Prop. 81, the library bond - was a major disappointment, but the low turnout made the level of support for the preschool initiative look far worse than it actually is, says CTA President Barbara E. Kerr. Plus, negative publicity took out one of the most effective advocates for preschool, Rob Reiner, and chilled participation from others.

 

Particularly gratifying were the victories in Assembly Districts 45 and 56, for Kevin de Leon, a CTA staff person, and Tony Mendoza, a member of United Teachers Los Angeles who serves on CTA's political action committee (CTA-ABC), respectively.

 

CTA also joined with EdVoice, a PAC that includes Silicon Valley business interests, to help Paul Krekorian win in the 43rd Assembly District.

 

Other independent expenditure committees in which CTA participated were equally successful. The Opportunity PAC, which includes other public employee unions, won in three of the four races in which it had an interest. A new PAC that includes teachers, firefighters and correctional officers prevailed in all four of the races in which it had an interest.

 

At the Democratic Party-sponsored unity rally held the day after the election, where Angelides and his opponent Steve Westly stood side by side with other Democratic nominees under a banner that said "Democrats protect real people," Kerr was the only non-politician given a speaking role. She took the opportunity to let everyone know the coalition that defeated Schwarzenegger's ballot measures last November would be working for the governor's defeat this November.

 

"We can be proud of what we accomplished in the primary, but we are a long way from done," says Kerr. "The general election will determine who the constitutional officers are and who will lead this state for the next four years. A lot is at stake. We won a terrific victory last November, but it was a defensive victory. If we want to make our victory truly meaningful, we will have to prevail this November."