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After two full weekend days of campaigning, Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel were back at it before sunrise this morning. At this point, they both really want to be mayor. Here's a snapshot of the day, the weekend and the final hours of Campaign 2013.
Eric Garcetti planned a "whistle-stop" tour via Metro rail lines and stops at the ILWU dispatch hall in Wilmington (5:45 a.m.), Pacific Diner in San Pedro, Cow's End Cafe in Venice, Coffee Bean in Pacific Palisades, Casa Torres in Sylmar and elsewhere — with a media gig on "Good Day LA."
Wendy Greuel planned to appear on KNX (1070 AM) at 6:40 a.m., on KABC (790 AM) at 6:52 a.m., and on Good Day LA (Fox 11) at 7:10 a.m. She was also due at a Starbucks in Studio City, Philippe's, and elsewhere.
Somehow I got on Greuel's mailing lists for campaign volunteers. I got two emails over the weekend giving me the names of ten potential voters to call — with their phone numbers. So if you are Larry Abrams, Glenn Camson or William Zaluski (in area code 323), David Herman or Richard Leon (310), or Jay Norof, Manuel Carrillo, Javier Trejo, Martin Kassowitz or Alex Teno (818), you can thank me if you didn't get a call. The downside is I now have your numbers. Noted: All are men.
A two-year campaign that has drawn record spending will see either the first woman or the first Jew elected as Los Angeles mayor. But despite those milestones, candidates Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti sped around the city Sunday trying to avoid another distinction: drawing the lowest turnout for an open mayoral seat in modern history. LAT/James Rainey and Seema Mehta
Councilman Eric Garcetti and City Controller Wendy Greuel worked their message from dusk until dawn on Sunday, hitting key battleground neighborhoods such as South Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley, and the Harbor area. In the primaries, Garcetti did well with voters in the central-eastern San Fernando Valley, where he campaigned heavily and which has many Latino voters. But Greuel also had done well, and has the endorsements of Valley-based Latino leaders like Rep. Tony Cardenas and Sen. Alex Padilla. Daily News/Dakota Smith and Susan Abram
It's a political tradition to visit churches the Sunday before Election Day and that's exactly what Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel did across South Los Angeles this morning. KPCC/Alice Walton
With the election just one day away, Los Angeles mayoral candidates Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel were courting last-minute votes on Monday. KTLA
With just a day left for voters to elect the new mayor of Los Angeles, mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel paid a visit Sunday afternoon to a few businesses along York Boulevard, where she explained why she was unable to accept an invitation by the Northeast L.A. Alliance of Neighborhood Councils to debate her electoral rival Eric Garcetti. Eagle Rock Patch/Ajay Singh
Greuel casts herself as an underdog; Garcetti shuns overconfidence. LAT/Michael Finnegan, Maeve Reston, Catherine Saillant
Tim Rutten: Record campaign spending in L.A. election heralds darker political times ahead. LANG column
Record spending and historically abysmal turnout can't be made to equal anything but political dysfunction - and that ought to be a matter of regional as well as civic concern.
Harold Meyerson: Los Angeles has the nation’s smartest, most successful union movement. So why is it coming out of tomorrow’s mayoral election so banged up? American Prospect
Jim Newton: The office of mayor often enlarges the winner. Will it do so again with Garcetti or Greuel? LAT Op-ed
Steve Lopez: This is yet another column on Tuesday's election in Los Angeles, the race half the city doesn't care about and the other half hasn't heard about, but DO NOT turn the page. LAT
A Times analysis shows that a 2.8-square-mile, Mid-Wilshire neighborhood has had an unmatched record of picking mayors in both primary and runoff elections since 2001. And interviews suggest it could again be a bellwether of the concerns, apathy and ambivalence voters take to the polls Tuesday as they choose the city's new chief executive. LAT/Mehta
In an internal memo this weekend, Wendy Greuel's pollster took aim at the new USC/LA Times poll and argued the race is a "dead heat" heading into Tuesday's vote. LA Weekly/Gene Maddaus
Los Angeles Voter Guide: Mayor, Weed Measures, City Council, City Attorney, LAUSD Board and The Works. LA Weekly
The next mayor of Los Angeles can be expected to have political influence well beyond their city’s limits. DN/Andrew Edwards
3 competing medical marijuana measures on Tuesday ballot. DN/Orlov
Under Maria Elena Durazo, immigrant workers give new direction to Los Angeles unions. NYT
12 Low Points and Highlights of the Mayor's Race. Downtown News/Jon Regardie
No Excuses, Just Vote — Because You Can. Downtown News editorial
The Los Angeles city controller doesn't have any actual power over the modernization plans of Los Angeles World Airports or over whether a controversial new runway is built at Los Angeles International Airport. Nevertheless, LAWA and the runway have become an issue in the race between candidates Dennis Zine, a termed-out city councilman, and Ron Galperin, a Century City attorney. Opinion LA/Jon Healey
While the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union for officers, is supporting Greuel, the LAPD Command Officers Association (which represents captains and above) lasy week endorsed Garcetti. "The decision to endorse Eric Garcetti was not taken lightly. Over the course of the past few months, we have taken the time to sit individually with both candidates for mayor. We spoke with them about public safety, their plan for the future of the City of Los Angeles, and the concerns we have for our City."
Greuel is downtown at Exchange LA on Spring Street. Garcetti is at the Hollywood Palladium.
The Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University will host an Election Night at LA Center Studios downtown. Fernando Guerra will give the first results from that day’s exit poll.
Regarding the dearth of women on the LA City Council, John Phillips quips: "Who would have thought the only person with binders full of women in Los Angeles would be Heidi Fleiss?" Daily Beast
