Candidates Wrap Up an Intense Campaign

More than two years after they began campaigning for mayor of Los Angeles, James K. Hahn and Antonio Villaraigosa surged toward the finish line Monday, with Hahn sounding confident that he can maintain the lead shown in some polls and Villaraigosa predicting that a shift in momentum will deliver him a victory in today’s election.

“We started first 2 1/2 years ago, and I think we are going to finish first,” Hahn told fellow diners over breakfast at a restaurant not far from his San Pedro home. It was the first of his five stops of the day.

Villaraigosa’s frenetic final day of campaigning--with about two dozen stops scheduled up to midnight--reflected his campaign’s contention that the candidate was behind but closing fast. “There is, without question, a tide turning,” he told reporters. “I feel very, very good.”

Despite their sunny demeanors, both candidates continued to criticize each other’s campaign tactics. Villaraigosa said he was particularly incensed about mailers that depicted him as going easy on child molesters and a convicted drug dealer. One said, “Why We Can’t Trust Antonio Villaraigosa,” and showed a pile of cocaine.

“I think people have been very upset and angry about the campaign tactics of Jim Hahn,” Villaraigosa said during one stop in the San Fernando Valley. “It’s just beyond the pale, the distortion of the track record. . . . I think [it’s] backfiring.”

Hahn Stands by His Campaign

Hahn said that he would not change anything about his campaign. “Campaigns are not prom dates,” Hahn told reporters at the Jewish Home for the Aging in Reseda. “They are [about] vigorous differences between candidates and where we stand on issues.” Hahn said Villaraigosa had begun the negative campaigning, with a television spot that criticized Hahn’s campaign statements.

The two would-be mayors agreed on one thing: The considerable effort to get out the vote today will help determine who becomes the next mayor. Most of that work is being done for Villaraigosa by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, which has provided well over 1,000 volunteers to work phones and walk precincts since the weekend. Hahn has been able to count on at least a half dozen unions of his own, also walking door-to-door and contacting confirmed Hahn voters.

The final pitch to voters was occurring on several other levels--from the candidates’ campaign stops and the attendant news coverage, to new television and radio ads, recorded telephone messages and mailers. Much of Hahn’s focus remained on his central issue of public safety.

In his public appearances, Hahn stressed his record and 20 years as a prosecutor, including the four years he worked as a deputy city attorney before being elected to run that office. After more than a week of attacking the letter Villaraigosa wrote to the White House on behalf of a cocaine trafficker, Hahn added an ad that focused on his own record. It highlighted litigation to control gangs and the marketing of tobacco to children. The 30-second spot mentions his support from the city’s police union, firefighters and from the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.

Among the automated phone messages going out for Hahn was one from basketball great and entrepreneur Magic Johnson, as well as Hahn’s personal appeal to voters.

In a measure of how closely the candidates are watching each man’s moves, the Hahn campaign scrambled to produce a radio ad Monday morning shortly after Villaraigosa went on the air with an ad critical of the city attorney.

The Villaraigosa radio ad accuses the city attorney of “fear mongering” for running television ads depicting Villaraigosa with images of crack cocaine use. The spot segues into a recitation of Villaraigosa supporters, from Gov. Gray Davis and Mayor Richard Riordan to Councilman Joel Wachs and the Sierra Club.

Citing that latest Villaraigosa ad, Hahn campaign consultant Bill Carrick said: “It’s the latest attack ad from the campaign that says it doesn’t attack.”

The final Villaraigosa push included perhaps the first overt appeals to Latino pride on behalf of the candidate.

Villaraigosa Makes Pitch to Latinos

Villaraigosa’s campaign has attempted to mute such appeals because the candidate says he wants to make it clear that he wants to represent all residents of the city and because his tacticians believe an overt ethnic appeal would alienate other voters. Some Latino activists and elected officials, however, have said Villaraigosa has not done enough to appeal for votes on his home turf.

In an automated phone message paid for by the California Democratic Party, County Supervisor Gloria Molina reminds Latino voters that they have the opportunity to help elect the first Latino mayor in more than a century. Molina also criticizes Hahn for his “dirty and vicious” tactics.

Molina also made a pitch for Villaraigosa on Spanish language radio.

Villaraigosa’s supporters’ latest point of contention was two mailers, one paid for by the Hahn campaign and the other by the Soboba Band of Mission Indians. The Hahn mailer again renews the criticism of Villaraigosa for writing a letter on behalf of cocaine trafficker Carlos Vignali. The piece concludes: “We just can’t trust Antonio Villaraigosa.”

The Sobobas, who were asked to contribute to the Hahn campaign by a prominent supporter and fund-raiser, launched a mailer that proclaims, “Don’t Take a Risk on Villaraigosa.” It says that Villaraigosa “has voted consistently to go easy on criminals who prey on children.”

The ads pick up on Hahn’s contention that the former assemblyman was more interested in the rights of criminals than the rights of victims.

A review by The Times found that Villaraigosa did have a liberal voting record on crime, often not supporting the toughest penalties or the most restrictive conditions on parolees. But the Soboba mailer is also misleading--for instance, citing a vote Villaraigosa took against a law to crack down on child pornography. In fact, on the same day he voted against that bill, Villaraigosa voted for an alternative measure that included a more exhaustive definition of “obscene.”

Shelly Mandell, president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Organization for Women, was one of the Villaraigosa backers denouncing the latest mailers.

“I’m so upset that this is what’s happening to our city,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything worse done to a good person.”

A full accounting of all the outside activities on behalf of the two candidates will likely not be known until well after the election. Just since May, the California Democratic Party reported spending $681,000 for Villaraigosa and a group of other candidates. Hahn’s campaign protested that expenditure--saying it essentially subverted the city’s campaign finance law by allowing major donors to give huge donations to Villaraigosa.

Just under one-third of registered voters cast ballots in the first round of the mayor’s race on April 10. The city’s Elections Division does not forecast turnout, but as of Monday, the number of absentee ballots returned was 95,000, lower than the number turned in just before election day in April.

Villaraigosa crisscrossed the city on a final marathon push, speeding from Sherman Oaks to Boyle Heights, Venice, Wilmington and back to the heart of the city. He acknowledged that a higher turnout would improve his chances.

“There’s going to be so much energy tomorrow,” he told volunteers at his crowded Valley office. “It’s going to be the most incredible demonstration of positive love and energy that people in this city have seen in a long, long time.”

Hahn knocked off campaigning before sundown. His campaign seemed secure that it had done enough to win.

“The vote is pretty settled now. People have made up their minds,” said Kam Kuwata, a Hahn campaign consultant. “When all is said and done, it’s not who has the biggest get-out-the-vote effort,” but who gets the most votes. I’m confident that is our side.”

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Times staff writer Matea Gold contributed to this story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Polling Place Tips

* Be sure that the two slots at the end of the ballot fit down over the two red pins so the ballot is secure in the vote recorder.

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* Use the stylus or punch pen to punch straight down through the ballot.

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* Make sure to go over the ballot carefully, voting for each candidate or measure of your choice. Unless otherwise instructed, vote for only one candidate for each office.

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* Review your ballot. Make sure you have cast a vote for all offices and mesures of your choice. Additionally, remove any hanging paper or chads from the back of the ballot.

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* If you make a mistake or your ballot becomes torn, return it to a precinct worker and obtain another.

Sources: Los Angeles city clerk; Los Angeles County registrar-recorder

Compiled by MALOY MOORE / Los Angeles Times

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Sample ballot shown at right.

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