One month to go

Only saw the last half of Sunday night's mayoral snipefest, but what I caught was not pleasing. Neither candidate came across to me as visionary, commanding or likable. Villaraigosa, in particular, looks like he was smart to refuse getting into many more of these skirmishes, because they are not his shining moments. I lost track of how many unrelated points he ended by saying "and that's why I'm running for mayor." Hahn wasn't exactly impressive, but I'd call him the winner of what I saw; my seatmate said "he cleaned Villaraigosa's clock," but she also saw only the last half. So, there's exactly one month to go to find out how much of an 18-point lead Villaraigosa can hang onto. Stories: Times, Daily News, AP.

Plus: A noteworthy bloggy analysis and reaction from the newest online scribe on the local political scene, Matt Szabo. The ex-City Hall aide was Bob Hertzberg's communications director in the primary.

Also: Rick Orlov picks up City Hall rumblings about replacing Alex Padilla as president of the city council...And my latest piece on the race in Los Angeles Magazine should be hitting the streets right about now. It's in the May issue, and not yet online.