The L.A. Times political writer Mark Z. Barabak jumped into the fray over the paper's campaign coverage, apparently telling a class of Berkeley students yesterday that the disputed grope story "was one of the finest hours of the L.A. Times" and that the paper is still investigating charges that he called potentially more damaging to Schwarzenegger. The Daily Californian, the independent student paper at Cal, reports that Barabak characterized the LAT coverage as fair and balanced. He predicts that, as governor, Schwarzenegger will raise taxes to balance the budget. (Via Romenesko)