Archive: Campaign 2012

And that's not even the most spent this year on a California congressional race.

Also: Measure J, the transit tax extension, ends with 66.11 percent of the vote, and needed 66.66 percent to pass. How close did it come? If you take the 2,863,951...

Richard Bloom leads Assemblywoman Betsy Butler by 1,705 votes in this afternoon's essentially final update on the Nov. 6 election from LA County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan. Bloom posted a resignation message on Facebook.

The percentage of yes votes keeps going up, but not fast enough to make passage likely. There are only so many votes left to count.

Really, America? Tomorrow is three weeks from the election, and they're still counting votes. For the first time — these are not recounts, folks.

At least one high-spending SuperPAC achieved its goal in the November election. That SuperPAC belongs to Michael Bloomberg, the media mogul and billionaire mayor of New York City. It spent $3 million to defeat Rep.Joe Baca.

Analysis by Gallup and UCLA Law's Williams Institute suggests that the gay and lesbian vote for Obama was big enough to matter. That would certainly add to gay political clout if the belief takes hold.

One of the remaining unsettled California congressional contests has been won by Democratic challenger Ami Bera. Dan Lungren, the former Long Beach area lawmaker who has also been the state's attorney general and the Republican nominee for governor, lost by more than 5,000 votes. The margin on election night was fewer than 200 votes.

Men by a wide margin opposed requiring condoms on porn actors in LA County. Women, by an equally large margin, favored condoms. Blacks favored condoms. Whites opposed the new rule, strongly. Voters in the city of West Hollywood also rejected the condom mandate for porn films.

I know that it's already Thursday night and the election post-mortem period is all but over. But my wonky side is still eating up the numbers and inside analysis.

Here are the stats from the Registrar-Recorder of Los Angeles County:

With 100% of the precincts counted, but not all of the ballots, Santa Monica mayor Richard Bloom leads Assemblywoman Betsy Butler by 218 votes. That's out of 138,342 votes already counted. The county hasn't said how many provisional and uncounted ballots it thinks it has.

California voters went 59 percent for President Obama, 39 percent for Mitt Romney. It's largely, but not totally, a coastal thing. But Obama lost 2.7 million voters in California since 2008.

The measure to extend the transit sales tax beyond our lifetimes in order to pay for projects now got almost 65 percent of the vote, but needed 66.67 percent. LA County Democratic Party chair Eric Bauman blamed the loss on "the special interests and conservative forces."

Howard Berman and Laura Richardson lose their seats in Congress, Councilman Tony Cardenas goes to Washington, Jackie Lacey wins DA of Los Angeles County, Prop. 30 leads, the death penalty stays, three strikes as we know it goes, and from now on LA porn actors have to cover up. Plus more.

NBC and CNN were first to declare Barack Obama the winner, I think. The LA Times sent out its tweet calling the race for Obama a few minutes later. At 8:30, it's pretty much a sweep of the major media.

The contributions came through two nonprofits with right-wing ties, Americans for Job Security and The Center to Protect Patient Rights, that do not have to report their sources of funds. The $11 million pumped into the fight against Prop.30 and for Prop. 32 is "the largest contribution ever disclosed as campaign money laundering in California history," the FPPC says.

Nate Silver, the polls and stats analyst whose FiveThirtyEight forecasts runs in the New York Times, wrote Saturday that President Obama is "now better than a 4-in-5 favorite to win the Electoral College, according to the FiveThirtyEight forecast. His chances of winning it increased to 83.7 percent on Friday, his highest figure since the Denver debate and improved from 80.8 percent on Thursday."

He has the complex algorithm to back up saying that President Obama is the favorite to win on Tuesday. But all he needs, he says, is this: Obama is ahead in Ohio.

As of Thursday afternoon, about 549,000 mail ballots have already been returned to the LA County Registrar-Recorder. Just over a majority, 50.59 percent of the ballots, have come back from Democrats. Some 29.65 percent have come in from Republicans.

The White House Press Office advises that President Obama will land at LAX aboard Air Force One on Wednesday evening, go tape "The Tonight Show" and depart again from LAX two hours later. Should be minimal traffic impact.

Well this can't be good. The heated acrimony in the bitter race between Reps. Howard Berman and Brad Sherman boiled over into something a bit more...unseemly. At one point, Sherman roughly grabs his more senior colleague and shouts, "Do you want to get into this?" Then a lawman arrives to calm things down. Videos inside

"One of the toughest, and strangest, congressional races in the country is between two Los Angeles incumbents...Democrats," the national audience learned on "All Things Considered."

President Obama arrived at LAX a little after 1 p.m. and went right to a private gathering of donors in Trousdale Estates before tonight's concert and exclusive dinner downtown.

The Guardian in the UK today published the first in a 7-part series on the Latino vote produced by USC Annenberg grad students over the summer as part of the News21 fellowship. "Across America an electoral giant is stirring."

Garcetti gets Salma Hayek but few LA names, a bunch of other endorsements, what will be in the news today and more.

The Los Angeles Times editorial page on Sunday endorsed Rep. Howard Berman in the big Democratic Party battle in the San Fernando Valley. "The Times supported Berman in the first round of voting, and we're sticking with him in the head to head" over Rep. Brad Sherman.

Politico reports that Rep. Laura Richardson, already under reprimand for pressuring her staff to work on her campaign, is now accused by the House Ethics committee of retaliating against and intimidating aides who cooperated with the earlier investigation.

The differences between Reps. Howard Berman and Brad Sherman are few, says the Daily News editorial, "but they're significant....We urge a vote for Howard Berman."

An email to Los Angeles area Obama donors says the concert evening will be "a large scale event with multiple performers and speakers preceding the President’s remarks," the Hollywood Reporter says. Good news on the Obamajam front: it's a Sunday night.

Reps. Howard Berman and Brad Sherman are both liberal Democrats, more or less. But they also are fighting for their political survival in a San Fernando Valley congressional district that is about 26% Republican in registration, and by now most of the Democrats (48%) have probably long made up their minds who to vote for. So this has been claim a Republican week.

Editorial board predicts an Obama win will mean death panels and "an effort to get 'In God we Trust' removed from U.S. symbols, including our money."

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is busted on "The Daily Show" for his presiding over that bogus voice vote on the platform changes (re: God and Jerusalem) at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.

Rep. Howard Berman's latest television ad in his race with Rep. Brad Sherman is pegged to the service that Berman provided in the Valley after the devastating 1994 Northridge earthquake.

At the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, the powers that be clearly signaled they want Janice Hahn to stay in Congress.

For those of us in Los Angeles, one of the subplots of the Democratic convention this week in North Carolina will be the omnipresence of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. How will he go over on a national stage? Will he emerge from Charlotte with a changed profile, pro or con? How many news media interviews will he manage to squeeze in? Before the convention's first TV session, we know the answer to the last question.

David Chalian is the Washington bureau chief for Yahoo who last month floated that weak and mysterious story asking if Antonio Villaraigosa was poised to become the first Latino president. Today he was fired over something he said during a webcast at the Republican convention.

One of Rep. Brad Sherman's new videos focuses on what he's done for the San Fernando Valley. The second, titled "Courage," is built around William Isaac, a former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. who gives Sherman kudos for his opposition to the TARP bank bailout. View them here.

Married political analysts Sherry Bebitch Jeffe and Doug Jeffe don't pundit-ize in print together very often, I don't believe. But they forecast the November election's "defining moments" in a piece at Fox and Hounds Daily.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa isn't doing much for the people who elected him this week — and he'll likely do even less next week when the Democrats meet. He's in Tampa now doing CNN every morning with Soledad O'Brien, filling the role of Democratic counterpoint to the Republican convention. He also sat down Monday with KPCC's Larry Mantle and mingled with the gathered journalists on the convention's Radio Row.

Rep. Howard Berman is airing two new campaign spots that push his record on issues in the Valley and show him being thanked by the Republican father of a soldier killed in Iraq. Also, rival Rep. Brad Sherman today alleged that Berman "enriched" his brother with campaign funds.

Two stories in the news today about Republican campaign specialists with national reputations and roots in liberal Los Angeles: Matthew Scully, the former speechwriter for George W. Bush and Sarah Palin, and demon sheep creator Fred Davis.

A news story in the LA Times calls the California Teachers Association "arguably the most potent force in state politics." But Times columnist Michael Hiltzik writes "Who really wields political power in Cal? Not the teachers union, but the 1%, and they want even more!" His Sunday column blasts Prop. 32, a conservative-backed measure to undercut union influence.

The Valley's battling Jewish Democrats debated Wednesday night in a Catholic school cafeteria in Sherman Oaks — first time since the June primary — and if anything the race is getting nastier. Our columnist Bill Boyarsky was there, as were other interested journalists and a crowd that was a bit on the old side.

When First Lady Michelle Obama ended her fundraising swing through Los Angeles today, the presence of Rep. Howard Berman by her side was noteworthy when viewed through the lens of Democratic politics. Berman was invited to the Ladera Heights luncheon and Rep. Brad Sherman was not.

There's also a private benefit concert with Yo Yo Ma at the home of architect Frank Gehry.

Richardson, the Democratic House member from the Long Beach area who is in a reelection fight, improperly used House resources for campaign and personal purposes and compelled congressional staff to work on her campaign, the House Ethics Committee's subcommittee on investigations said today in a report.

James Rainey has been covering media as a reporter since his bosses at the Los Angeles Times dropped his media column back in October. He will now post items to the paper's Politics Now blog, per Friday's note to the newsroom from national editor Roger Smith.

There have been some developments, political and media, since we last checked in on the congressional race in the Valley between incumbent Democrats Brad Sherman and Howard Berman. Today's serve came from the Sherman side.

The Democratic strategist who joined the Howard Berman reelection campaign in March as a senior advisor is taking full charge of everything, campaign sources say. That would be a big and serious shift in approach by Berman, who for decades kept his political campaign machinery tightly in the hands of his brother Michael. For the first time, Berman is also using an outside pollster.

A Sacramento judge rejected activist Molly Munger's argument that Jerry Brown's tax measure should not be listed first on the November ballot. Munger's group, Our Children, Our Future, said it won't appeal. "We're moving on," said spokesman Nathan Ballard.

Some of the young Hollywood hotties who met privately with President Obama on his last visit to Beverly Hills are combining on a June 29 fundraiser for the president's campaign, the Hollywood Reporter says. Jared Leto chairs, but the participants include the not-so-young such as David Fincher and Peter Frampton. Details and names inside.

Both the Washington Post and the New York Times have taken note this week of the committee funded by Marc Nathanson that is spending big bucks on behalf of Rep. Howard Berman in the Democrats' congressional district showdown in the Valley.

This weekend's edition of "Wait Wait..Don't Tell Me" on NPR stations worked in a question about the caper we reported here a few weeks ago in which Rep. Brad Sherman either added or removed his mother from a campaign mailer. He later joked about it. See what the panel said.

Before leaving Beverly Hills this morning, President Barack Obama met privately at his hotel "with two dozen of Hollywood’s hottest young stars, urging them to involve themselves in his re-election campaign." Plus a pool report from View Park.

Before leaving town for Nevada, President Obama is scheduled to speak this morning at a private fundraising breakfast in View Park, the community perched on the northern side of the Baldwin Hills with the awesome views of Downtown and the Hollywood Hills.

President Obama began the fundraising day on Wednesday by flying to San Francisco (with Giants legend Willie Mays on board Air Force One and at his side) then on down to Los Angeles. He appeared tonight at the LGBT Leadership Council gala at the Beverly Wilshire, where Ellen DeGeneres and "Glee" star Darren Criss provided the entertainment, then at a more private dinner a little ways away in Beverly Hills hosted by "Glee" creator Ryan Murphy and his fiance David Miller.

Election night reporters who opted for the Carmen Trutanich headquarters in San Pedro, or were sent there by an editor or producer, ended up with the best story. The onetime frontrunner in the race for District Attorney self-destructed so badly that his ability to hold on to his job as Los Angeles City Attorney next year has to be in doubt.

3:30 a.m. update: Sherman beats Berman, Hahn beats Richardson, Lacey beats them all and Trutanich may be the biggest loser of this election. More inside with links and late results.

President Obama returns to Los Angeles late Wednesday afternoon for yet another campaign fundraising appearance, this time at the the Regent Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills. The event is a gay and lesbian community fundraiser for Obama. Here is some early traffic guidance.

Rep. Howard Berman's camp thinks that Rep. Brad Sherman and his flacks just can't get their stories straight. I don't know. I think it's just the dry sense of humor we saw on The Colbert Report. You decide

District Attorney candidate Carmen Trutanich had asked the Attorney General to look into "suspicious political activity," citing the DA's inability to produce his old personnel file. Today, AG Kamala Harris says there will be no investigation.

Some Valley voters are getting campaign mail that shows Rep. Brad Sherman with his wife and three young children. The lucky ones also get his mother, apparently photo-shopped in to the same scene.

He's making a fuss about his old DA employment file being missing. But his people knew in 2008 that it couldn't be found, the LA Weekly says.

Not a good day on the newspaper editorial pages for City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, who wants to be seen as the frontrunner in the district attorney race. "Trutanich is not the disaster portrayed by many of his critics," the Times says, adding the inevitable but.

This is the official transcript from the White House of what President Obama said from the stage at last night's Democratic fundraiser at George Clooney's home in Studio City.

President Obama told the guests at tonight's Democratic Party fundraiser in Studio City that his comments yesterday on completing his move into the yes column on same-sex marriage were "a logical extension of what America is supposed to be." Plus notes on who attended, what else Obama said during his 19-minute talk.

Rep. Howard Berman, not Brad Sherman, was invited to meet the president's helicopter at Bob Hope Airport this evening in Burbank. Berman then was swept into the car with Obama and got to discuss the weighty matters of state — or perhaps the Wolfgang Puck menu — on the drive to George Clooney's house for the big fundraiser in Studio City. I'll score that as a major point for Berman.

If I were a betting man, or a Valley commuter hoping to avoid tonight's presidential motorcade traffic snarl, I would avoid the route between Bob Hope Airport in Burbank and Studio City as the clock approaches 7 p.m.

Some recent political analysis had Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and his call for a Democratic Party platform plank supporting gay marriage posing a potential problem for President Barack Obama. I'm not sure it really did pose such a problem then, but Obama has put it out in front of the voters now, for better or worse.

Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Krekorian, who represents Studio City, says he has been told that the area south of Ventura Boulevard around Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Fryman Canyon will be pretty much a mess between 8 and 10 p.m. on Thursday. He also confirms that President Obama will stay overnight in Beverly Hills, as on recent trips.

President Obama returns to Los Angeles on Thursday to separate more Democrats from their $40,000. He's going to George Clooney's house in Studio City's Fryman Canyon, but how he will get there nobody's saying. The president will overnight somewhere in the LA area — back in Beverly Hills or does a new hotel get to host Obama this time?

In "one of the most competitive congressional races in recent history," the Daily News editorial is asking voters to cast ballots for Democrat Howard Berman and Republican Susan Shelley. That leaves out the Valley's other big congressional incumbent, Brad Sherman. Here's what they say in this morning's editorial.

A supposedly independent committee that is spending money on behalf of Rep. Howard Berman in the big San Fernando Valley showdown is too close to the congressman, says the campaign of rival Rep. Brad Sherman.

Superior Court judge Kathleen Kennedy dismissed the DA's two-year-old perjury and voter fraud case against City Councilman Richard Alarcon and his wife, Flora Montes de Oca Alarcon, saying the prosecution failed to present evidence to the grand jury that undercut its case. Prosecutors indicated they would refile the charges.

Ann Ravel, the chairwoman of the state's Fair Political Practices Commission, is giving up for now on trying to force bloggers to disclose payments they receive from political campaigns. She's moving instead to seek voluntary disclosure by bloggers for the November election, but isn't holding her breath. "I don't think there's going to be a large amount of voluntary disclosure," she says.

The Berman campaign is rolling out a video spot with the backing of Betty White, the seemingly timeless former star of TV's "Golden Girls." She appears in the commercial with actress Wendie Malick talking up Berman, who is facing fellow Democrat Rep. Brad Sherman in the June primary. Berman is "the Valley leader who fights for the humane treatment of all animals," says White, who is known as an animal activist. "And he has very nice blue eyes." Watch the video.

Some of Rep. Brad Sherman's fundraising during this election cycle — he's in a tough fight in the Valley with fellow Democrat Howard Berman — is actually being carried on the books as money raised for his 2014 reelection campaign. Now that's being an optimist.

The cover of the April 14 issue of The Economist: Americans play hardball.

Rick Santorum suspended his presidential campaign on Tuesday, but did not immediately endorse Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination.

A judge decided today that City Attorney Carmen Trutanich can't call himself Los Angeles Chief Prosecutor as a candidate for District Attorney. But look how he can list himself on the ballot.

Paul attracted a healthy crowd of about 5,000 for Wednesday night's rally in the tennis stadium on campus.

Republican candidate Rick Santorum claimed he read somewhere that 7 or 8 UC and CSU campuses don't even offer U.S. history — and isn't that outrageous, angry real Americans?

Federal prosecutors are expected to recommend 11 to 14 years in prison for the Democratic campaign treasurer, Politico reports.

Republican candidate for president Mitt Romney has a $2,500-a-person fundraiser scheduled Tuesday night at the Century Plaza.

John Schwada, the former Fox 11 reporter and LA Observed contributor, goes to work for Rep. Brad Sherman's campaign.

This reporter's tip sheet from the Obama campaign seems like it just went out prematurely. Note the subject line.

Brandon Hall, who ran Sen. Harry Reid's reelection campaign and some other big Democratic wins, has been named senior advisor to Rep. Howard Berman's campaign and put in charge of day to day operations.

Plus: who from Los Angeles was invited to attend dine at the White House tonight with Britian's Prime Minister David Cameron.

The Carmen Trutanich for DA campaign paid marketing firms to rustle up YouTube views for his campaign videos, then sent out a press release crowing about how the videos' popularity showed the city attorney had broad support, the LA Times reports.

Democratic Reps. Brad Sherman and Howard Berman are facing off at 7:30 p.m. at Temple Judea in Tarzana. Republican Mark Reed is also taking part — in fact he kind of gets featured billing as the outlier in the race for the heavily Democratic 30th district.

The Great Eastern, the Chinatown landmark in San Francisco where President Obama made one of those "unscheduled" stops on Thursday's campaign swing, still offers a $48 bowl of braised shark...

President Obama stopped into San Francisco's Chinatown for some dim sum dumplings today. Unlike here, there didn't sound like much fuming in traffic.

The White House has provided an official account of what President Obama had to stay last night at the fundraiser in Holmby Hills.

Every president from Kennedy to Clinton stayed at least once at the Beverly Hilton, the hotel says, and it's where President Obama checked in before tonight's Democratic fundraiser. By flying over much of the Westside to Cheviot Hills, then taking the short jaunt up through Century City to the hotel, he cut out many miles of potential traffic mayhem on this trip.

President Obama is scheduled to land at LAX about 4 p.m. After that traffic could suck for awhile in the corridor from Brentwood to Beverly Hills.

But it sounds as if he the mayor will be named chair of the Democrats' convention in Charlotte, with an announcement possibly tomorrow when President Obama is here in Los Angeles.

The entertainment highlight of the Democratic Party's state convention this weekend in San Diego was apparently the unusually harsh words from Reps. Brad Sherman and Howard Berman, aimed at each other.

City Attorney Carmen Trutanich made it official and announced this morning that he is running for District Attorney of Los Angeles this year.

Rick Santorum claned up on Tuesday, but it's Mitt Romney whose record on immigration will be skewered by the mayor in Washington.

As City Attorney Carmen Trutanich inches closer to his inevitable admission that, yes, he is running for DA despite previously saying he wouldn't, some law enforcement say his campaign has been fudging its endorsement list.

Berman-Sherman are in one orbit, Richardson-Hahn in another with fewer zeroes.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi entertained Hollywood political players last night with her plans for regaining a Democratic majority in November. Plus: Obama's biggest Hollywood bundlers.

Former speaker and losing candidate for mayor releases a statement (through campaign strategist John Shallman) saying thanks but no thanks.

I guess it's good news that the president's main venue on Feb. 15 will be in Holmby Hills, at the home of soap opera producer and writer Bradley Bell and his wife Colleen.

Newt Gingrich got 40 percent of the vote in Saturday's South Carolina primary, well ahead of both Mitt Romney (27 percent) and Rick Santorum (17 percent) — "upending the Republican race for the presidency."

The former Utah governor went before the cameras in South Carolina this morning and formally pulled out of the race for president. He called on the remaining Republican candidates to clean up their acts.

This year's showdown in the Valley between Reps. Howard Berman and Brad Sherman does more than just echo the 1980 fight in Sacramento when Berman tried to unseat fellow Democrat Leo McCarthy as Speaker of the Assembly.

President Obama's reelection team has furnished donors with a list of more than 190 well-known Americans who the campaign hopes will stand in for the president during the year.

Jerry Lewis, the dean of the California Republicans in Congress, confirmed today what's been around for a few days now

The Service Employees International Union in California will announce today its backing of Rep. Howard L. Berman in the San Fernando Valley showdown with fellow Democrat Rep. Brad Sherman.

The Republicans had their own local primary election fight between House incumbents brewing due to redistricting. But Rep. Elton Gallegly said Saturday he won't run, leaving the district to fellow Republican Rep. Buck McKeon.

The number of links to coverage of last night's forum between Reps. Howard Berman and Brad Sherman (and their Republican accessories) has kept growing through the day. So I'm gathering them here.

She resigned as ambassador to the Bahamas and will return to Los Angeles "to help fix the president's troubled relationship with the entertainment industry." Plus: Keith Olbermann, Berman-Sherman.

Greuel joins City Council President Herb Wesson and the Times in backing the LAPD cop in the race. For the Times, the endorsement comes with a caution that Buscaino is not all that impressive.

he Los Angeles Times has tapped Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist David Horsey to revamp the Top of the Ticket politics blog with cartoons and commentary.

You can probably guess handle the Secret Service used for the actor.

Berman's friends in the House are lending their name to a "California wine tasting" fundraiser next week in Washington.

He cites distractions and blames enemies and the media, of course.

Republican presidential front-runner (at least in California) Mitt Romney will be in town Dec. 6 for a fundraiser at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Simon did unpaid work for Texas Gov. Rick Perry's presidential campaign for awhile. Plus: Tina Dupuy on Occupy.

Rep. Howard Berman looks like the big winner on the dollar side.

He's not toast, maybe, but the odds are getting longer.

L.A. gets acquainted with a new level of Obamajam while President Obama himself stops for takeout and politics at Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles.

There's not much new to know since we filled you in last week.

President Obama will be jetting back into Los Angeles this month for a political fundraiser aimed this time at Latinos.

Rep. Howard Berman today endorsed Los Angeles City Councilman Tony Cardenas in his bid to win the Valley's newly drawn 29th congressional district.

The Jewish Journal intends to keep a close eye on the divisive local race.

Many in Hollywood (and especially in Valleywood) wish the looming primary fight between the two Democrats would just go away.

My weekly column this evening centered on the redrawing of political lines in California, mostly on the new districts that will see Reps. Henry Waxman, Howard Berman and Janice Hahn seek reelection outside their traditional home turf.

Rep. Howard Berman may face reelection in a new (if still Democratic) district, and a likely opponent from his own party in Rep. Brad Sherman. But his Hollywood friends are still with him.

The latest to form a fundraising committee is Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, who filed so he can accept checks to finance a run for District Attorney, if DA Steve Cooley decides not to seek reelection in 2012.

The Daily News' Tony Castro writes on his personal blog that despite Alex Padilla's talk of running for mayor, the state Senator from Pacoima really wants to be in Congress.