Where’s the Party? Anywhere a Candidate Still Has a Chance

Passing out American flags, Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa’s supporters stamped their feet and shouted support at his election-night headquarters -- jubilant even without finality.

Results had slowed to a trickle -- delayed because of fog -- but Villaraigosa’s stalwarts, gathered at Hollywood’s Henry Fonda Music Box Theater seemed more and more certain of a win.

Across town, front-runners pushed their speeches later into the evening, and held off on balloon drops. Frustration grew as election officials offered little explanation for the paucity of results.

Mayor James K. Hahn’s backers remained optimistic and defiant. At the Conga Room nightclub on Wilshire Boulevard -- where the marquee read: “Hahn for Mayor 2005” -- they pounded their fists in the air at the earliest results showing the incumbent picking up the most absentee ballots.

The news came via BlackBerries and pagers not long after the polls closed at 8 p.m., even before a campaign worker could display them on a big-screen TV.

“It’s a good night! It’s a good kickoff!” said Councilman Tom LaBonge, a Hahn booster.

State Sen. Gil Cedillo led the crowd in a chant of “Four more years!”

“We’ve got to keep the high spirits,” said LaBonge, “keep thinking strong for Jim Hahn.”

Later, Hahn came out to talk to the crowd, backed by Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.”

“I wanted to come out here and thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Hahn said. “It looks great, everybody.”

Across the fog-draped hills in Van Nuys, Bob Hertzberg’s supporters cheered the same numbers, which put their man in second place in the absentee count.

Conventional wisdom -- buoyed by exit polls -- predicted a foot race for second place between the former Assembly speaker from the Valley and the incumbent from San Pedro. The top two vote-getters will face off in May.

But when would they know?

As midnight drew closer, there was little real data to go on. The delays threw off the well-choreographed routine of election night -- bands, food, drink, hope, balloons and confetti.

Timely concessions and troop-rallying victory speeches all had to wait.

At Villaraigosa’s camp, 1,000 people filled the auditorium, balconies and a rooftop terrace, where wine was served in plastic cups and supporters ate cold cuts and chicken wings.

As the band played, a large projection screen showed what few precinct returns were available.

The candidate, whose last public appearance of the day was at the Original Tommy’s on Beverly Boulevard, had gone home about 8:30 p.m. to dine with his family and prepare his remarks.

“I’m a mega-supporter. You can see it in everyone. Everyone is ... up,” said Sonia Mercado, a Ladera Heights attorney who said she has known Villaraigosa since both were law students.

“And I don’t even get to vote because I don’t live in the city, but it’s important to many of us. It’s not just about four years of being a mayor. It’s about a future for the city,” she said.

The wait in the Parks camp was harder.

Not long after the polls closed, Frankie Curry, 61, an old friend of Councilman Bernard C. Parks, said she thought the former police chief had made his bid for the mayor’s office too early.

“It’s a done deal,” she said. “It’s going to be between either Hahn, Villaraigosa or Hertzberg.”

When Parks arrived at his election-night party at 10:30 p.m., flanked by his wife and family, he got a standing ovation.

He told them that returns were too preliminary to give them any meaningful news, but he promised to return later when more returns were in.

Parks, who trailed in polls leading up to the election, thanked supporters for their hard work. The campaign, he said, “changed the dynamic of the city of Los Angeles. Our message has resonated with every part of the city of Los Angeles.”

Earlier in the night, Hertzberg walked past a small army of TV cameras in the AirTel Plaza Hotel in Van Nuys and took the elevator to a fifth-floor suite.

“How big are you feeling, Bob?” someone asked the former Assembly speaker, who appeared as a giant overshadowing the city in his TV commercials. “About 60 feet tall,” he replied.

But without much of the vote counted by late Tuesday, Hertzberg warned the crowd it would be a long night.

“Let me tell you something,” he said, “It’s time for the voters to speak. We’re in the competition, we’re doing great, whatever the numbers show, we’ll see what they say ...”

Times staff writers Jeffrey L. Rabin and Richard Fausset contributed to this report.