Poll: Garcetti slightly ahead of Greuel; sales tax measure losing badly

The two leading candidates for mayor have been within a few points of each other for much of the campaign. The latest poll, taken by SurveyUSA for KABC, shows City Councilman Eric Garcetti at 26 percent and City Controller Wendy Greuel at 23 percent. After that it's Republican Kevin James (14 percent) and City Councilwoman Jan Perry (12 percent). Considering that turnout on March 5 is expected to be quite low, Garcetti's LAT endorsement over the weekend could be a big deal. Of course, Greuel has a nice war chest for TV ads. With still another debate on tap tonight at 6:30 on KABC, I suppose James has a shot at sneaking into the runoff, but Perry and the others are pretty much goners. Well, at least according to these results - polls have been few and far between during the race. As for the sales tax, it's losing 46 percent to 26 percent, according to SurveyUSA, with 28 percent undecided. Here's another contest that's essentially over, which means the city will have to figure out how to pare down that $200+ million deficit.