Running Behind, but Still Running

Sun Valley sales manager William Pena would like to see a Latino running Los Angeles for a change. One candidate who impresses him is Richard Alarcon, the state senator who grew up in his working-class stretch of the San Fernando Valley.

Pena believes Alarcon has done good things for the neighborhood as a senator and former city councilman. Yet Pena said that when he votes Tuesday, he will probably choose the other Latino in the mayor’s race -- City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa.

“Villaraigosa has the best chance of winning,” said Pena, 47. “He has the best chance for my vote to be heard, and that’s what it’s all about.”

That is the problem facing Alarcon, 51, who entered the race last March as the first major challenger to incumbent Mayor James K. Hahn. In the ensuing months, Alarcon has impressed observers with his debating skills, his political scrappiness and, in some quarters, his ideas for the city. But he has struggled to translate that respect into broad support.

Part of the problem is the presence of Villaraigosa. Both men are experienced politicians with activist roots. But it was Villaraigosa who forced Hahn into a runoff in the last mayor’s race in 2001. That automatically made him the top Latino prospect in this year’s race -- not just for voters, but for political donors, according to observers such as Nate Holden, a former city councilman and a former mayoral candidate.

“They’ve got two Latinos in the race, and [contributors] are going to take the guy who’s been there before,” Holden said. “They say, ‘Why should we put the money on Alarcon when we’ve got a front-runner?’ ”

Other factors have hobbled Alarcon’s campaign, observers say, including burned bridges with influential Latino powerbrokers and the general difficulty state legislators have running in a citywide race, in which they are often seen as just another face from Sacramento.

But Alarcon swears that he is not giving up. In the final days of the campaign, he has been fighting to keep his campaign alive, despite single-digit poll numbers and a dearth of cash. Last weekend he took his message across the city with an old-fashioned bus tour. He has also borrowed a little star power from comedian George Lopez, who has been holding fundraisers and appearing with the candidate at rallies.

Their message: Don’t count out Richard Alarcon. The candidate reminds doubters of the come-from-behind victory that catapulted him onto the City Council in 1993, and his narrow victory against Richard Katz in the hotly contested Democratic primary for the 20th District Senate seat in 1998.

“Our campaign has always relied on nontraditional voters that you can’t estimate in the polls,” he said during a campaign stop last Saturday at a Tujunga park. “And so if nontraditional voters come out in large numbers, people who don’t normally vote or haven’t voted three to five times consistently ... we think we’re right in the mix. But I’m not going to tell you it’s not an uphill climb.”

The latest Times poll shows Alarcon with 5% of the vote. Money is so tight that Alarcon plans to stop running his moody, 15-second TV ads today. The top candidates, meanwhile, expect to maintain their advertising at peak levels through election day. In the last days of campaigning, Alarcon will rely on phone banks and old-fashioned pressing of the flesh.

Records show Alarcon raised $567,383 and had about $31,264 in cash on hand as of Wednesday. He collected the smallest amount of the top candidates. In contrast, Hahn raised $3 million, Hertzberg raised $2.1 million and Villaraigosa raised $2 million.

With no other options, Alarcon has tried to turn his opponents’ fundraising success against them. He contends that Hahn, Parks and Villaraigosa are getting big money from special interests who expect favorable treatment from the city in return. In the same breath, Alarcon touts the ballot initiative he has drafted that would restrict campaign donations from companies bidding for city contracts.

It’s a key plank in a platform that this upholstery worker’s son has dubbed “building middle-class dreams” -- repealing an 11% rise in water rates, increasing the power of neighborhood councils, and adding 1,000 police officers by billing the airports, port and Department of Water and Power.

This week, Alarcon had mixed success in getting that message out. He held his own at Monday’s mayoral debate, but a planned rally with Lopez fell through Tuesday due to conflicts with the TV star’s shooting schedule.

On Wednesday, he showed up for Larry Mantle’s “AirTalk” radio program on KPCC-FM (89.3) dressed in an olive suit and black polo shirt. His trademark mustache lent him the air of a 1930s matinee idol.

The candidate hit all of his marks on the show, but when the phone lines were opened for comment, only one listener -- a San Fernando Valley woman worried about illegal immigration and gangs -- bothered to call in.

Thursday found the candidate in Villaraigosa’s home district, at a rally for residents of El Sereno who oppose a proposed extension of the Long Beach Freeway. He spoke against what he called the city’s mishandling of the plan as about 30 residents stood behind him, cheering and waving Alarcon signs.

Val Marquez, a member of the group Concerned Neighbors of El Sereno, said he supported Villaraigosa in the last mayor’s race -- but now he was siding with Alarcon. He said Villaraigosa hadn’t done enough to help stop the freeway project. He was also angry that Villaraigosa broke his pledge that he wouldn’t run for mayor this time.

“Antonio hasn’t done anything for us,” Marquez said.

Alarcon insists that he is in this race to win. On Wednesday in Pasadena, he laughed when confronted with the doubts of political insiders who say he is only running to build name recognition for some other political contest after term limits force him out of his Senate seat next year.

“My father taught me to focus on the meal that’s before you,” he said. “I really have enjoyed this run, because we believe we have swayed the terms of the debate.”

Alarcon said it was his assault on water rates that forced Villaraigosa to say he too would try to repeal the 11% increase, even though Villaraigosa originally voted for it.

Alarcon also noted that Hahn has said he might support Alarcon’s campaign reform initiative (although a Hahn spokesman notes that the mayor would rather see passage of a similar package that Hahn has brought before the City Council).

As Alarcon spoke, a man approached and asked if this was the guy he’d seen debating on TV the night before. Alarcon shifted happily into grip-and-greet mode as the man expressed how much he would love to give Alarcon his vote -- the only problem, the man explained, was that he lived in Pasadena.

The candidate shrugged, and cracked a smile.

Times staff writer Matea Gold contributed to this report.