The candidate who was making $1 million a year as a lawyer—then tried to move his kids out of private school and cut their child support when he gave up the income to run—comes across as a guy who really wants to be mayor. Today's Times profile by Jeffrey Rabin calls Hertzberg fierce and calculating (it mentions he sued his father for punitive damages after their law practice broke up) and says he's "an insider trying to capture the outsider's elixir that propelled Arnold Schwarzenegger to the governorship." Soon after Schwarzenegger won, Hertzberg and his wife vacationed with ex-mayor Richard Riordan and his wife Nancy Daly Riordan to discuss running for mayor.

"I really like him," Hertzberg says of the governor. "I like his approach toward governing. I don't agree with him on everything, but I like him because he's not political at all. Honestly, I swear to God, he's just not political."

[snip]

The stance against tax increases, the school district break-up hopes and his moves to ease traffic woes are the backbone of Hertzberg's campaign — most evidently in his new television ads. There he looms, Gulliver-like, over police cars, a city school and a traffic jam.

Asked in an interview why he got into the race, Hertzberg was blunt: "Could I go out and make a ton of money in my businesses and law firm? Sure. But when I'm 70 years old, I look in the mirror and I watched this place crumble and knew I could have done something about it. I just couldn't let that happen."

Really, Hertzberg says, he's gripped by the challenge of running Los Angeles. "Believe me, otherwise I wouldn't have done it. The sacrifices to me and to my family are extraordinary."

Hertzberg's entry into politics via a gig as 19-year-old driver for Mervyn Dymally is explored, along with his estrangement from former Sacramento roommate and pal Antonio Villaraigosa. Hertzberg gets off a new zinger about the mayor he hopes to retire: "Jim Hahn has been on the government payroll since Jerry Ford was president. He doesn't get it. The world has changed."

Arnold: The governor supports Hertzberg's call to break up the L.A. school district, but hasn't endorsed him for mayor (and likely won't unless Hertzberg gets in the runoff...if then.)

* And: The LA Weekly is out with its profiles, divvied up among the staff. They are accompanied by this intro: "Forget civic duty. Read about the L.A. Five for the entertainment value and character development. They are all flawed, honorable and colorful — some more than others. These in-depth profiles of Jim Hahn and the four out to bury him contain details of public and private lives that you haven’t read anywhere else. Apathy may not be bliss after all."

The Weekly's 3,300-word Hertzberg piece by Marc Cooper is of course more textured and has more point of view than the straight-ahead Times profile. It lays off some of the personal stuff and gets into the politics of the race, concluding that "after a strong start...Hertzberg is quickly running out of time." Hertzberg doesn’t disagree and says of his TV ads that show him as a giant walking through the city, "The consultants say you have to inundate, and I’m going to be pushing the envelope in the ads. They’re either going to be a 10 or a flop." Villaraigosa jokes in the piece that after he's elected, he'll hire smart people just like Hertzberg.