12 days and counting

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.

2:21 AM Friday, February 25 2005 • Link
More by tag: Politics
Email or share:
© 2003-2008   •  About LA Observed  •  Contact the editor
LA Biz Observed
5:12 PM Thu | Look for a loss of 350,000 payroll jobs in November, which would be the worst monthly drop since May 1980.
5:01 PM Thu | More and more stories are focusing on how even the ultra-rich have put the brakes on spending - at least pointless, obnoxious spending.
Native Intelligence
Nancy Rommelmann | I updated my status yesterday on Facebook to include a trip I am planning to Panama. Within hours, I had...
Sara Catania | And other dispatches from the next generation of LA writers.
Bill Boyarsky
Here’s a way city hall can strong arm the Dodgers into paying at least part of the cost of providing public transportation to the stadium during baseball season.
Jenny Burman
Prior to being homeless they lived a comfortable life on McCollum Street.
Here in Malibu
Where the $%#%$&$# has the sun gone?
Sponsors
Jewish Journal logo
California Wellness Foundation
Playa Vista ad
Premium Blogads

 
Books, Blogs & Events

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