Kaus gets the launch any candidate would love

Only one California political hopeful got featured in Sunday's New York Times Magazine, answering Deborah Solomon's questions. That would be Mickey Kaus, who talks about why he's running against Sen. Barbara Boxer. Couple of tidbits:

DB: After years of sitting in a room in Southern California writing a blog for Slate magazine, you’re planning to challenge Senator Barbara Boxer in the Democratic primary in California in June. What led you to get into politics?

MK: I’ve been a blogger since 1999, and it hasn’t done the job. In California, the Democratic Party is worse than it was when I started. The only thing left is the interest groups. It used to be a functioning party independent of labor, and now that has atrophied.

[skip]

DB: Do you think we are entering the age of the amateur politician? As veterans like Evan Bayh drop out, amateurs like Al Franken and yourself are ascendant.

MK: I do not expect to win, and that is the difference between Franken and me. This is an issue-raising candidacy.

[skip]

DB: Are you concerned that you could jeopardize her campaign and help her Republican opponents, who include Carly Fiorina?

MK: Well, Carly Fiorina is a very weak opponent. The McCain people don’t like her; the Hewlett-Packard people don’t like her. Everywhere she has been she has not left a trail of admirers.

Kaus says he'll blog independently if Slate doesn't want him to continue while he's an official candidate. At Slate, he was being paid $90,000+ until a recent pay cut for everyone knocked him to down into the 80s, he says.

Politics notes: KNBC's "NewsRaw" will be airing tonight's Whitman/Poizner debate at 5:30, on digital channel 4.2....City Attorney Carmen Trutanich will talk about his prosecution of supergraphics violators on tonight's "Which Way, L.A.?" on KCRW at 7:30. City Councilman Jose Huizar is also on talking about the 2010 census.