The race for the Democratic nomination for California governor has tightened dramatically, according to two new polls, the Los Angeles Times poll, in which ngelides has 37 percent to Westly’s 34 percent, and the Public Policy Institute poll released last Thursday that shows 35 percent for Angelides to 32 percent for Westly.

While support for Controller Steve Westly is steady in the low 30s,Treasurer Phil Angelides has momentum. He is up 17 percentage points in this month’s Times poll. In both polls, the candidates are statistically even.

The rapid shift in favor of Angelides shows that voters are starting to focus on the June 6 election. Even so, the situation is volatile — in the Times poll, 28 percent of Democrats are still undecided.

Negative advertising changed the dyanmics. The candidates have been trading charges for three or four weeks. So far, Angelides has benefited, perhaps because the tone of Westly’s ads has been harsher.

The Westly campaign got to 33 percent by emphasizing the candidate’s postives: He is both an E-Bay millionaire and a former public school teacher. The campaign signaled late last week that it would refocus on Westly’s positives fof the next few days.

Angelides has the momentum — not to mention the endorsements of top Democrats, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein. But Westly still has a chance with Democratic voters, a majority of whom believe he has a better chance of defeating Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose approval is anemic at 44 percent.

If the election were held now, Westly would be beat the governor, while Angelides and Schwarzenegger would tie:

If the election were held today, registered voters would prefer Westly over Schwarzenegger, 50 percent to 40 percent. Angelides was virtually tied with the governor, 46 percent to Schwarzenegger’s 45 percent.

Another sign that things could change: 41 percent of voters in the Times Poll who were currently in favor of either Angelides or Westly said that they might change their mind before June 6.