A new round of campaign contribution reports hits the paper today. Bottom line: you'll be seeing a lot of Hahn and Villaraigosa on TV between now and March 8, even if you live in Anaheim, Azusa or Rancho Cucamonga. Here's what the Big 5 have to spend:

Antonio Villaraigosa: $1,098,183
Jim Hahn: $1,077,149
Bob Hertzberg: $779,444
Bernard Parks: $337,446
Richard Alarcon: $78,687

Expect to see the bulk of it spent on television spots, even though the candidates have to pay to air their commercials in five Southern California counties (population over 17 million) to reach the relative small number of Los Angeles residents who will actually vote. Last time, 511,521 ballots were cast in the primary, and that was for a wide-open office with no incumbent (turnout was 33% of those registered.)

"You're kind of stuck," said Bruce Cain, director of the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley, noting the limited effectiveness of other means of advertising, such as campaign mailers. "It's the TV ads that have the most powerful effect."

Stephen P. Erie, a Los Angeles politics expert at UC San Diego, says "now is when people are beginning to focus. This is when it becomes mass entertainment." Fundraising continues, of course. Villaraigosa led in collections in the latest period, taking in $360,223. Hertzberg was next with $229,216, then Hahn with $153,684, Alarcon at $103,986 and Parks at $80,650.

More: Politics
© 2003-2009   •  About LA Observed  •  Email the editor
LA Biz Observed
4:03 PM Fri | CBS and ABC have far bigger fish to fry - namely whether their stations can get back the auto and retail advertising that fell off a cliff in 2009.
Native Intelligence
Jenny Price | Recycling!
Veronique de Turenne | And there's still time to take part!
Phil Wallace | Searching for answers after a third loss this year.
Deanne Stillman | Jihad and cash offers meet American soldiers during the Gulf War, and beyond.
Iris Schneider | After a tough year financially, the Museum of Contemporary Art put on a gala party to celebrate with 1,000 of its closest friends.
Jenny Burman
Thinking more about buying less.
Here in Malibu
Seriously -- turn out the lights.
Sponsors
Jewish Journal logo
The California Wellness Foundation
Playa Vista ad
Blogads

Blogads Los Angeles network

Get RSS Feeds
of LA Observed
LA Observed publishes several Real Simple Syndication feeds for easy scanning of headlines. If you wish to subscribe to a feed, most popular RSS readers will do it for you. You can also enter the web address from the XML button below or click on a specific feed. For more help with RSS, try here or here.




Add to Google