It’s Anything but Politics as Usual

Two rallies this weekend brought home the rapidly changing nature of Southland politics.

One of them was for Democratic women candidates, especially two running for Senate, Rep. Barbara Boxer and former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein. The other was sponsored by Latino politicians campaigning for Charter Amendment F, the measure to increase civilian control of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Rallies are an antiquated form of political communication. These days, voters get their politics in small doses, in television and radio commercials and in the mailings being lugged to the garbage cans. Rallies, however, remain useful. No matter how small the crowd, you can always learn something from the interaction of audience and speaker, and from the other sights and sounds.

That’s how it was with me on Saturday. I’d read about a forthcoming “Year of the Woman” and the “Year of the Latino” for a long time, but mainstream politics had pretty much remained the domain of white guys. But as I watched the two events, I realized things had changed this year.

About 500 people, mostly women, sat in the warm early afternoon sunshine in the plaza behind the Westwood Federal Building for the Boxer-Feinstein rally. On and around the podium were the two stars, and a number of other women running for office.

Some were underdogs. Catherine O’Neill, battling Assemblyman Tom Hayden and Sen. Herschel Rosenthal, will need a tide of female support to beat her heavily financed opponents in a race for a Westside state Senate seat.

But others were favored to win and they approached the microphone with the confidence of a favorite. One of these was state Sen. Diane Watson, running for Los Angeles County supervisor in the 2nd District, which reaches from South L.A. through Inglewood. Watson figures she’s leading former Rep. Yvonne Brathwaite Burke and former Carson Mayor Gil Smith.

The number of potential winners among the women candidates was one sign of how women and their issues have moved into the mainstream. Another sign was Feinstein’s speech.

When Feinstein ran for governor two years ago, she was a cautious feminist. Her campaign was directed to the center. She was running away from the feminist groups that had been influential in losing Democratic campaigns.

On Saturday, it was a different Feinstein. She spoke with emotion about child care, child support, health care, abortion.

Interestingly, these concerns no longer sounded like “women’s issues,” to be considered apart from everything else. These are the subjects most people talk about at home. Over dinner, men and women anguish about day-care centers, baby-sitters, health insurance, caring for elderly parents and what to do about unexpected and unwanted pregnancy.

It’s a lot closer to life than anything you hear from the guys.

Feinstein said later that her issues are more relevant because times have changed. “There’s a convergence between the women’s agenda and the domestic needs of this country because Americans want our country to come home and address itself to domestic priorities,” she said.

Although fewer than 20 people were on hand, the Charter Amendment F rally in predominantly Latino Highland Park also provided valuable insights.

The small crowd, by the way, wasn’t especially good news for Charter Amendment F sponsors, who are hoping for a huge Latino grass-roots get-out-the-vote effort.

More interesting than the crowd were the people standing at the microphone. There was a lot of clout there, a large number of officeholders. There was also potential clout--office seekers.

The hopefuls were evidence of how the last redistricting of congressional and legislative districts increased the number of constituencies with heavy Latino populations, making it easier for more Latinos to win. Redistricting in Los Angeles County resulted in six Assembly districts with Latino majorities in Los Angeles, compared to three previously. Latino-majority congressional districts increased from three to four.

Latinos are now in office at every level of government here, and the redistricting ensures that their numbers will increase.

Only Tuesday’s elections will show how much these trends mean. The coming of the “Year of the Woman” may be delayed by a wave of defeats. And although Latino power has increased, it is still limited, given the size of the Latino population. Of 2.3 million Latinos eligible to vote in California, 844,000 voted in 1990. It’s too early to celebrate “The Year of the Latino.”

But the issues raised by women and Latinos are now in the mainstream of political debate. That’s a 1992 election result that will stand.