As of right now, the official web site for the once and future man who would beat Jim Hahn to become mayor of Los Angeles - Villaraigosa.com - is still under construction, missing images, unfilled promises and all.
Whoops - there it goes - it switched over at about 10:36 p.m. and now appears at least the images are solidly in place - my guess is that Villaraigosa aide and webmaster Ulisses Sanchez just now changed over to the new mayoral site from the old 2003 Council candidacy site just about the time that the Times story moved ...
The Villaraigosa site sports a completely empty (at the moment) blog parked at blogspot - a rather stark contrast to the relatively busy Hertz-blog and launched-then-(so far) abandoned AlaBLOG. It offers only this promise, in extremely teensy, pale-gray letters that will surely cause trouble for older voters with failing eyesight:
Welcome to the Campaign Blog for the Mayoral Campaign of Councilmember Antonio Villaraigosa. Come here to participate in a discussion as to how we can make Los Angeles a better city for all Angelenos
It should be noted, however, that introductory language on the previous page promises it will be more of a community blog:
When using our campaign blog, please make sure to help us provide a positive environment where ideas can flow freely and dialogue can take place that will have real meaning to all of us. We ask those who contribute to the blog to refrain from using abusive or disrespectful language. Thank you for your interest in this campaign.
Putting aside the rather pandering notion that any mayoral site now must have a blog to appear relevant or interactive, the Villaraigosa site is pretty standard fare when stacked up against the latest LAVoice Mayoral Site Check. It:
Offers a long, detailed account of Villaraigosa's work as assemblyman, Assembly Speaker and L.A. councilman
In short, the site is up, but it's far from finished, and bears more of a resemblance at this second to Bernard Parks' barely-there placeholder site than to Richard Alarcon's polished, Flash-fronted site.
Sites aside, it'll be good to see the other candidates scramble for footing on the battlefield that underwent a sudden, sharp change of gravity when Hahn's old nemesis stepped in. Now that Hahn's proven himself to be an ineffectual ghost of a leader with only enough talent for token acts of decisiveness, and the black community that helped push him into office before discovering he didn't care about them the way his dad, Supervisor Kenny Hahn did, Villaraigosa stands a much better chance.
Still and all - with other big egos in the race - we're in for an interesting seven months.
Well, it's official - at least according to the Times. 
