Not 1973 *

The Times' Mark Z. Barabak writes Sunday that the replay between Hahn and Villaraigosa echoes the 1973 rematch between Tom Bradley and Sam Yorty, but only to a degree. The piece makes for a good light review of the city's political history, starting with the 1969 Yorty-Bradley showdown when race flared as the number one issue and 76% of voters cast ballots. By 1973, Bradley had defused most white fears about a black mayor, and Yorty's attempts to play the race card again fell flat. Still, turnout was 69%. Los Angeles is a much different place now, and a clear sign of that is the turnout figure in this month's primary of 28.53% (see the final results, below.)

Also in the LAT: Steve Lopez says Hahn's best hope is to ditch his sister Janice, get a red convertible, and loosen up. He also says Angelenos love to be lied to: "Villaraigosa says he's going to build the world's greatest mass-transit system. There's a better chance of Keanu Reeves becoming an astronaut, but it doesn't matter. Would you rather hear about Villaraigosa's subways and trains, or Hahn's left-turn lanes and his Hal Bernson endorsement?"...Lots of letters about David Abel's "Dumbing down" piece of last Sunday...This week's "Outside the Tent" is so far out it didn't run. It was by John Ziegler of KFI, and Sunday Opinion editor Bob Sipchen writes that he rejected it as "several hundred words of pointless blather"—but put it on the web so the people can decide if he made the right call.

Elsewhere in the campaign:

What does a candidate do on Easter Sunday? Go to services. Hahn starts in Rancho Palos Verdes at 5:45 a.m., hits South L.A., then ends up serving at the Midnight Mission. Villaraigosa will be in Pacific Palisades (he did the mission last week.)...But first they go to the Blessing of the Animals on Saturday at Olvera Street, for a photo-op alongside Cardinal Mahony. Adrienne Crew at LAist took pictures of the beasts...The City Clerk on Saturday finally finished counting the votes in the March primary. The final tally for the top six:

Villaraigosa 136,242 33.10%
Hahn 97,049 23.58%
Hertzberg 90,495 21.99%
Parks 55,808 13.56%
Alarcon 14,815 3.60%
Moore 11,409 2.77%

* Updated