The
final election night tally in Los Angeles shows
Antonio Villaraigosa easily taking first, with a 35,000 vote gap between him and Hahn, who currently outpolls Hertzberg by 5,761 votes.
Hahn will quickly point out that Villaraigosa garnered a 25,000 vote margin in his first place showing four years ago. The LAT's Matea Gold tells us, however, that Villaraigosa is in a
much better position for the rematch.
As for the mayor, it looks like his day ended much better than it began, when he
hung up on John and Ken after a five-minute scream fest.
With an
apparent rematch of the 2001 L.A. Mayoral election between Hahn and Villaraigosa, the big question is "What will Bob do?" As in
Bob Hertzberg, Antonio's former close friend and roommate. Worst comes to worst, he can always go back to that
$1 million law firm gig.As for the runoff, we're guessing the race only gets uglier from here.
In other nasty fight news, the
500-student brawl between Hispanic and Armenian students at L.A.'s Grant High School is not expected to have a runoff.
Even Bay Area voters have caught the anti-tax bug, apparently
rejecting 9 of 10 parcel tax measures. With several of the losing bids between 55 percent and the required two-thirds to pass new taxes, look for
Joe Simitian to make a renewed push for his
SCA 8, which would drop the parcel tax vote requirement to 55 percent.
In another election night shocker, it's
all in the family in CD 05.This just in ...
Phil Angelides is running for Governor! The Times quotes Dem political consultant and
Rob Reiner political adviser
Roy Behr, who said that Angelides is "clearly the master of Democratic red meat rhetoric and will play very well at the [Democratic] convention, but he's probably not what voters are looking for." Hmmmm...could they be looking for, uh, Meathead instead of red meat? Angelides is
expected to announce his candidacy next week. Will Lockyer follow suit before the April Democratic convention, or will Angelides have the crowd to himself?
Meanwhile, most of the major papers include a story critical of the governor's fundraising swing. The Sacramento Bee reports: "In politics, money talks. This luncheon affair, at the posh St. Regis Hotel just a couple of blocks north of the White House, is the kind of event that should have shouted." But like many politicians with regard to fundraisers,
the governor wanted no part of the cacophony raised by Tuesday's event" in Washington D.C.
The LA Times reports on the "New Kind of Crowd" now
following the governor at every campaign stop, a far cry from the hordes of adoring fans he is used to.
The Chronicle's Zachary Coile writes: "Schwarzenegger's latest fund-raising binge has
raised questions about whether he is giving too much access to corporate interests with major stakes in his decisions as governor." The governor squeezed in brief meetings with President Bush, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and three Cabinet members. But he spent much of his one-day visit to the nation's capital raising money from Washington lobbyists who represent drug companies, Wall Street investment firms and the entertainment industry.
And the Mercury News editorializes against
the governor's fundraising and Democrats' inaction on the budget.
The loyal opposition to Schwarzenegger, no fundraising slouches themselves, announced the formal formation of
Seriously, Saving California, the new committee expected to match the governor dollar for dollar if and when there is a special election.
The firefighters will be out front of the new group, and yesterday, firefighters' union head
Lou Poulson held court with reporters on the Capitol steps to discuss the new coalition. "Paulson declined to say how much money Seriously, Saving California plans to raise and did not specify which initiatives it might push. The group has no position on Schwarzenegger's proposed amendment to take the power to draw legislative and congressional districts away from the Democrat-led Legislature and give it to a panel of retired judges, Paulson said."
Peter Schrag breaks down the game of
initiative chicken, which he calls the most complicated in California history.
Meanwhile, one county is already
figuring out how much it will cost to hold a special election in November.
The Merc News's Dion Nissenbaum
looks into the lobbying efforts of Schwarzenegger's political consultants
George Gorton and
Bob White, which would be barred if a gov-supported bill wasn't blocked by then-Senate leader
John Burton last year.
Lois Wolk is
back to crack down on lobbying by political consultants.Political Theory 101: Santa Rosa Junior College, which last week had a
bout of communism, has moved on to fascism, with a
plan to ban smoking on most parts of campus.
