The campaign of Democratic gubernatorial challenger Phil Angelides seems to have settled on a strategy they like for the time being: attempting to paint Arnold Schwarzenegger as the proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing.

It began with recent accusations of the governor flip-flopping on various issues (the Democratic party has even created a webpage of the same name); today, Angelides tried to hammer home the theme in regards to the current debate over increasing the minimum wage.

Schwarzenegger supports a one-time deal for hiking the minimum wage by a buck to $7.75, through a two-step increase over nine months. But he has vetoed legislative attempts at a minimum wage hikes the last two years, because those proposals included a mechanism for future automatic increases based on the cost of living-- the so-called "indexing" proposal that's often talked about.

At a downtown Sacramento restaurant this morning, Angelides essentially tried to dismiss the governor's interest in the issue as being based on election year politics, not policy. That's when he referred to the governor as "the fake Democrat" in this year's race.

Angelides vowed that as governor he would sign a minimum wage bill that includes the indexing proposal, a better deal for low-wage workers than a second Schwarzenegger term. "If he's re-elected," said Angelides, "there won't be another increase in the minimum wage for four years."

After the Angelides event, Team Arnold staffers put out a quick press release to argue that automatic minimum wage increases in other states have led to some unintended consequences (though one source quoted by the campaign-- a self-described "nonpartisan" DC think tank-- has been financially linked to a powerful restaurant industry lobbyist on Capitol Hill). A statement from a spokesman for Schwarzenegger criticized Angelides' position as indicative of a candidate who favors "auto-pilot spending."

And that's a pretty good sign of where the race stands in early August: Schwarzenegger trying to paint Angelides as a liberal big spender, and Angelides trying to paint Schwarzenegger as a 'Johnny Come Lately.' It will be interesting to see which attack plan, if either, works with voters.