Counting down the days before Tuesday’s election and trailing in the polls, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides used Friday afternoon to rally students against Proposition 85, a ballot initiative for parental notification widely considered to be a wedge issue among voters.

The rally reflected a concerted effort on Angelides’ part to differentiate himself from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who supported the nearly identical Proposition 73 that failed last Nov. by a six percent margin.

“Arnold Schwarzenegger is standing with George Bush and the anti-choice extremists in supporting this measure,” Angelides told a crowd of about 100 at the Women’s Center. “I’ll protect a women’s right to choose and that’s what a governor ought to do.”

A Field Poll released Thursday shows 46 percent of voters in support of Proposition 85 and 43 percent in opposition. With over 11 percent of voters still undecided, Democrats and pro-choice activists expressed optimism regarding a wide-open race.

“It looks like it’s going to be razor-close,” State Controller Steve Westly, Angelides’ rival in the Democratic primary and a Stanford graduate, told the crowd. “We’re at the inflection point now. Now is the time to decide.”

Proposition 85 would require doctors to notify a parent or guardian when a girl under 18 asks for an abortion. If passed, it would be the 35th such measure nationwide.

While most polls show Schwarzenegger leading by an average of 15 points, Angelides was hopeful that a wave of Democratic gains nationally, and a boosted turnout at home, would turn the tides in his favor on election day.

“We Democrats are united,” Angelides said. “If we get everyone we know to vote, we’ll win this thing.”

Like many Democrats nationwide, Angelides attempted to capitalize on the president’s low approval ratings and the growing unpopularity of the war in Iraq.

“Arnold helped reelect President Bush,” Angelides said in an interview after the rally. “I will do everything I can as governor and as a citizen of America to bring our troops home.”

While perhaps overshadowed by more controversial measures such as the gasoline tax, both sides hope to use Proposition 85 to rally their respective bases. Supporters of Proposition 85, and 73 before it, point to the broader failure of Schwarzenegger’s special election measures last fall as a sign that the jury is still out on parental notification.

“There’s a much more level playing field this year,” Republican consultant Hern Hanretty told the San Jose Mercury News on Friday.

For their part, opponents of 85 have portrayed the proposition as part of a broader effort to curb abortion rights.

“Everyone’s looking to see what California does,” Westly told The Daily after the event. “This is not an isolated election. It has implications around the world.”

And junior Mishan Araujo, co-president of Stanford Students for Choice, warned that the measure was in danger of passing despite the state’s left-leaning politics.

“It scares me because I think a lot of people in California think it would never happen here,” said Araujo, whose group organized the rally. “That’s not the case.”

For some Democrats, the sight of Angelides and Westly stumping together might initially appear odd. The heated and sometimes bitter primary race, which Angelides won by less than five percent, produced such vehement rhetoric that Schwarzenegger’s camp began using some of Westly’s quotes in their own campaign advertisements.

Now, however, Westly says that the two have put their differences aside and are steadfast allies for the Democratic cause.

“I am flattered that Gov. Schwarzenegger has quoted me extensively,” he said. “But it’s important that people know where I stand. And here’s where I stand: vote Democratic.”