SACRAMENTO -- Each holds a statewide office that provides a built-in public relations platform, has millions of dollars in his campaign fund and a roster of big-name endorsements.

What the two leading Democratic candidates for governor lack is household name recognition. That factor likely means a costly primary campaign between state Treasurer Phil Angelides and state Controller Steve Westly.

"They both have to introduce themselves to the voters," said Thomas Hollihan, associate dean of the Annenberg School for Communications at the University of Southern California. "They are going to have to distinguish themselves from each other as well as from (Gov. Arnold) Schwarzenegger."

Westly and Angelides already are taking their first early campaign steps to raise their visibility with voters.

Westly, a former executive with eBay who made a fortune off the Internet company's stock, remains a virtual unknown even though he has been active in party politics for years. A Field Poll conducted in November found that 66 percent of Democratic voters had no opinion of him.

The initial phase of his campaign plan is to run television commercials in specific markets, followed by a Westly visit, said his media strategist, David Doak. But Doak acknowledged that such personal campaigning can go only so far in the nation's most populous state.

"Campaigning in California almost always comes down to a media war," he said.

That's a war Westly is well-positioned to wage. He has about $24 million in his campaign fund, all but about $4 million he contributed himself.

Angelides is close behind, having raised about $18 million from nearly 20,000 contributors.

A former chairman of the state Democratic Party and two-term treasurer, Angelides holds the edge among party loyalists.

The Sacramento native has been endorsed by both of California's U.S. senators -- Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein; U.S. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and state Assembly leader Fabian Nunez. He also is supported by several powerful labor groups, including the California Teachers Association and the Service Employees International Union.

"Voters know what Phil Angelides stands for," said Angelides' spokesman, Brian Brokaw.

The November Field Poll gave reason to doubt that. It showed that about 63 percent of voters within Angelides' own party had formed no opinion of him.

"Only a handful of Democrats know either one of the candidates," said Garry South, Westly's campaign manager. "Both of them are starting virtually from scratch."

The candidates' need to define themselves before the June 6 primary could force them to spend most of the millions they've collected in their campaign accounts. One reason is that a large percentage of Democratic voters live in the expensive Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay area media markets.

A potential pitfall is the temptation for each candidate to define himself by criticizing the other.

Resorting to negative campaigning to draw distinctions on issues may be hard to avoid but also could turn off voters. Mudslinging tactics during primaries have sometimes tarnished the winner. This year, that could give an edge in the general election campaign to Schwarzenegger, who faces no serious primary challenge.

Veteran Democratic strategist Kam Kuwata noted that during the 1998 Democratic gubernatorial primary, candidates Al Checchi and Jane Harman spent millions attacking each other. But it was Gray Davis, who stayed out of the fray, who won the election and eventually went on to become governor.

"The greatest risk for both Angelides and Westly is that they alienate some group by going negative, that turns out to be a positive for Schwarzenegger," said Mark Baldassare, poll director for the Public Policy Institute of California. "To distinguish themselves from each other, they've got to point to areas in which they are dissimilar. It could easily get negative from there."