The Bratton boomlet

The New York Daily News' Rush & Molloy say that the prospects of LAPD chief Bill Bratton being appointed Homeland Security chief by President Bush are weakened by his association with former New York mayoral candidate Mark Green. Still, they talk him up. So does the Providence Journal. You want to have some fun, think about the turmoil that Bratton's departure would unloose in the L.A. mayor's race—and in L.A. politics in general. Jim Hahn is running for reelection on Bratton's coattails, there's no other way to put it. And Bernard Parks is trying to make points by criticizing Bratton, at least in black areas.

Meanwhile: Bratton shakes up the top ranks of the LAPD again and gives John Miller, his firearms-challenged anti-terrorism chief, control over organized crime investigations. (L.A. Daily News)