On the final day of what has been
an ugly campaign for LA mayor, the LA Times had seven reporters on the case, all working on one story. Mayor
Jim Hahn did his best
Nikita Khrushchev impersonation. "We will bury whoever is left on Wednesday," he told reporters in North Hollywood. But Hahn's got to get there first, and if either the LA Times of Survey USA polls are correct, it will be a battle for him just to make it to the May 17 runoff.
Bob Hertzberg meanwhile, was schmoozing with the ladies on the final day of campaigning before the runoff. "Hertzberg marveled at how "phenomenal" several of the elderly women looked. 'I'm going to hug and kiss everyone,' said Hertzberg, who has made hugs a trademark of his political style."
Antonio Villaraigosa spent his day rallying support among the city's Latino and Filipino voters. "At a Westside mall, a teenager told Villaraigosa, 'I've seen your commercials. Something about Enron.' 'No, no, that's the other guy,' said Villaraigosa, referring to a Hahn attack ad."
Anyone looking for a funny little summary of the mayor's race, check out
this QuickTime movie, which played at a recent event to benefit the American Diabetes Association. Thanks to
LA Observed for the link.
There's far less drama in Sacramento, where
Doris Matsui is expected to coast to victory today to fill her late husband's seat in Congress.
Secretary of State Two more initiatives hit the street yesterday, but when the release came from the Secretary of State's office, one thing was noticeably absent --
Kevin Shelley's name. Shelley resigned the office last week, and
left Cathy Mitchell in charge as acting secretary, for now.
As for a more permanent solution, that fight begins next Monday when
Bruce McPherson's nomination begins to work its way through the Legislature. Senate passage is expected for the McPherson, himself a former senator, but he
could face a tougher road in the Assembly. "The Assembly's rejection of McPherson would be [Speaker
Fabian] Núñez's poke in Schwarzenegger's eye, enhancing his stature, perhaps, within the Capitol as someone who can stand up to the popular governor during the latter's self-proclaimed 'year of reform' writes Dan Walters. "But Assembly rejection also could make McPherson a political martyr and give Schwarzenegger some additional ammunition during the forthcoming campaign over his ballot measures. He would use it to claim that the Legislature is controlled by narrow interest groups and needs reform."
Speaking of the special election -- look who's
jumped into the fray to seriously save California --
Howard Dean. "California for Democracy, the state arm of a national group that raised millions of dollars for Dean over the Internet, is planning a high-tech campaign targeting the Republican governor, who wraps up an out-of-state fund- raising tour in Washington today," the Chronicle reports.
The group will take the campaign to New Hampshire, then they're going to South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and North Dakota and New Mexico! They're going to California and Texas and New York! And then they're going to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan!
"Yeeeeaaaaaaaah!"The guv did
his own fundraising in New York yesterday, at an event hosted by New York
Gov. George Pataki. Memo to Arnold: Remember this day when Pataki launches that presidential campaign, and wants your fundraising help. "For Schwarzenegger, the relationship has allowed him to plug into Pataki's extensive fundraising connections in New York. In return, Pataki, whose popularity is low in his home state, gets a top attraction for his own state party functions and the benefit of basking in Schwarzenegger's celebrity glow," the Merc's Jim Puzzanghera reports.
The governor's
unveiled a new stand-up routine taking aim at bills that have been introduced in the Legislature, saying that lawmakers "are providing comedians with great new material." And Schwarzenegger, apparently, is a comedian. Democrats aren't the only target, with
Alan Nakanishi's bill to
prohibit ice cream trucks from double-parking making the governor's silly bill list.
In other political news, the latest
Field Poll shows that
Dianne Feinstein statistically is as popular as the governor. Would the next GOP guinea pig please stand up?
Is the governor's starving children? That's the assessment of one high school student, reacting to the proposed ban on junk food in school. The Press-Enterprise
takes a look at the certain opposition to the plan, including the
California School Boards Association and food manufacturers. A 16 year-old student, after saying the proposal is "whack" clarified "People will starve. Well, maybe not starve. But nobody really eats fruits."
Clouds in Sandy Eggo? While things are looking up for most local governments,
the City of San Diego is facing a $50 million shortfall. Admittedly, that's small potatoes compared to the
$1.37 billion shortfall in the city's pension program. So what's another $50 million, really?
Pension reform Does the initiative backed by Assemblyman
Keith Richman affect the benefits for widows of firefighters killed in the line of duty?
Bill Lockyer's office says it does, and indicated as much in the official initiative title and summary. But
proponents of the measure say he's wrong. "Noting that Democrat Lockyer is planning to run for governor in 2006 — possibly against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger — the Republican administration called his description a red herring and politically motivated. 'I think it raises real questions as to whether there was political motivation in the way the legal office wrote the title and summary,' Schwarzenegger spokesman
Rob Stutzman, tells the LA Times.
Are bloggers journalists? That question will be decided
in a Santa Clara courtroom this week. " Apple Computer has sued three bloggers -- so-called because of their authorship of online publications known as Web logs, or blogs for short -- in an attempt to uncover anonymous sources who may have illegally leaked some of Apple's internal trade secrets. Traditional journalists confronted with similar demands to reveal sources could rely on California's Shield Law, which protects reporters from having to reveal unpublished information."
