Big Ideas and Snitty Blogblather

When the polls closed Tuesday, rabble-rousers, scholars, college journalists and miscellaneous cranks were off and chattering about the Los Angeles mayoral election at the Times Opinion Manufacturing Division’s experimental weblog. Here are excerpts. To read the whole discussion, or to chime in yourself, go to www.latimes.com/mayorblog.

*

Despite the onslaught of ads and the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent campaigning, voter turnout in [the] Los Angeles [mayoral election] was disheartening.... Power in Sacramento over taxing, local government and ... education are key reasons. Not to mention the enormous power of special-interest groups, such as unions and corporations.

-- Richard Riordan, L.A. mayor 1993-2001

Remember the old saying that, in academia, the infighting is so nasty because the stakes are so low? The same principle applied to this year’s mayoral election.

-- Carol Platt Liebau, political analyst and guest host on KABC-AM (790)

[James K.] Hahn’s insider knowledge of City Hall power -- including its careful balance of African American resentment and law-and-order Valley fear -- was useful only to turn City Hall into a spot market for influence. [Antonio] Villaraigosa’s tenure in the state Legislature, a body whose habits are utterly alien to city government, will be as uncertain a guide. If Hahn always appeared to be the candidate of the old system downtown, then Villaraigosa often looked like the candidate of no system at all.

-- D.J. Waldie, author of “Where We Are Now: Notes From Los Angeles”

I’m going to miss having Slim Jim Hahn to kick around. [But] Antonio will have bigger successes and bigger failures and be more fun to cover.

-- Steve Lopez, Times columnist

Villaraigosa will have [political] capital to spend, but a lot of big expectations to spend it on. The bigger the victory, the sooner it’s “put up or shut up” time.

-- Patt Morrison, Times columnist

Hahn had dished out some nasty political blows to become mayor, and if there was potential to be ambushed PR-wise [because of that], a more skilled politician might have been able to sell his side of the “corruption scandal” better.... [Not every] big-city mayor has to have a Big Showy Personality [to succeed] ... but sometimes such a personality is helpful in battling negative perceptions.

-- Mark Alan Stamaty, cartoonist, illustrator and author of “Who Needs Donuts?” and “Alia’s Mission”

Angelenos are just hoping Villaraigosa doesn’t get caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

-- Salvador Hernandez, editor in chief of the Daily Sundial at Cal State Northridge

This election has been like passing a kidney stone. We [are] glad it is over, but will we feel better for the experience? ... The great threat of Villaraigosa is not so much radicalism or out-of-control Chicanismo but a lack of substance and purpose.

-- Joel Kotkin, Irvine senior fellow at the New America Foundation and author of “The City: A Global History.”

COMMENT: As mayor, Villaraigosa should avoid blogs and other pessimistic ramblings from shut-ins who think pessimism passes for political commentary.

-- Karen

The 2001 [mayoral] election, with its personal attacks and grainy images, was sufficiently reminiscent of what happened to Tom Bradley in 1969 that it became a rallying cry for Villaraigosa in 2005.

-- Robert Gottlieb, director of the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College and author of “Environmentalism Unbound”

Villaraigosa [ran a] Vanilla-raisoga campaign. He consciously turned down the “excitement” of his first mayoral run, which centered on his ethnicity and his message of ethnic bridge-building.

-- Anthony York, editor of Political Pulse, a newsletter on state politics

For at least the past 20 years, L.A. has run on Mexican sweat; now it will run on fresh, visionary Mexican American brains.

-- Joe Domanick, a senior fellow at USC Annenberg’s Institute for Justice and Journalism and author of “Cruel Justice: Three Strikes and the Politics of Crime in America’s Golden State”

Though not as sexy as a cool car, this campaign served as a pretty good diversion from the real issues.

-- Becca Bergman, features editor of the Occidental Weekly

If Hahn won’t concede, shouldn’t KTLA cut away from “Will and Grace” to cover this?

-- Daniel Miller, news columnist for the Daily Bruin at UCLA

Villaraigosa needs to be a pro-business mayor -- in the sense of promoting a healthy business climate -- but he also needs to redefine what that means in order to guarantee that prosperity is shared by working people.

-- Peter Dreier, professor of politics at Occidental College and coauthor of “The Next Los Angeles: The Struggle for a Livable City”

COMMENT: The honeymoon will end soon enough, and this little leftist experiment (oops! progressive ... lest we not be PC) will wither away, allowing L.A. voters to elect a grown-up next time.

-- CanPeter Be Any Drier

There was a brief time at the Villaraigosa victory party when I got caught up in the genuine enthusiasm of the historical moment. But the energy quickly dissipated [and] I couldn’t help but feel as if I were on a movie set where the finale of a big city mayoral election was being filmed.... I couldn’t help thinking that history shouldn’t feel this hollow.

-- Gregory Rodriguez, Irvine senior fellow at the New America Foundation and a contributor to The Times

The “pay-to-play” scandal played such a critical role, and yet remains so vague.

-- Mark Alan Stamaty

COMMENT: Hahn for mayor of San Diego!

-- Travis Hunter

Like Henry Cisneros, Villaraigosa was elected by running a pragmatic campaign that eschewed overt ethnic politicking and instead relied on coalition-building.

-- Oscar Garza, editor in chief of Tu Ciudad

The low turnout has within it a scary story -- the growing alienation of the middle class from politics and the city. They did not, as they say, have a dog in this fight.

-- Joel Kotkin

COMMENT: Not sure which is worse, your boring bitterness since [Bob] Hertzberg lost in the primary or that you (and The Times) consider your blather political expertise.

-- Tom

Why does this whole thing seem so anticlimactic? Maybe we’ve finally given up on the relevance of local governance -- or rather just local elected officials -- to our everyday life.

-- Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, senior scholar in the School of Policy, Planning and Development at USC and a political analyst for KNBC-TV (Channel 4)

COMMENT: Anticlimactic? When you have two towering giants like Hahn and Antonio V. vying for the Second Hardest Job in America?

-- Daphne

Latinidad is worthy of celebration, but it isn’t a system of government. Is Villaraigosa likely to be any better than Hahn in leading the city ... because he bears a (made-up) Spanish last name?

-- D.J. Waldie

COMMENT: If there had been no white mayor since 1872, in a city founded by whites, I’m sure you, Mr. Waldie, would be singing a different tune.

-- Karen

Poor Antonio. A liberal with no money to spend will have a short political honeymoon.

-- David DeVoss, editor and senior correspondent of East-West News Service

Becoming the overnight numero uno star in national Latino politics is dandy, but real change starts with shaking up the entrenched spoils system that has engulfed City Hall since the 1930s.

-- Joe Scott, retired political consultant