The L.A. 'sphere's alive with the buzz: Bob "The Other Shoe" Hertzberg is finally descending from the lofty business of fostering big ideas to endorse Antonio Villaraigosa for mayor tomorrow, adding further tonnage to the trainload of bad news crushing Jim Hahn's chances at re-election.
Noti Los Angeles reports seeing an NBC-4 report to that effect (the NBC site's devoid of the news at the moment). Noti's Jaime E. Olivares hammers the old nail-coffin trope, but alludes to Hahn's comeback capabilities:
Un nuevo clavo en el ataúd de Hahn. Aunque, ¡cuidado!, a veces los muertos se levantan de su ataúd.
At this point - in the same week as depressing poll results, a botched bid for biotech billions and a high-wattage endorsement for the challenger, it would seem that another enemy endorsement - this time by the man who just barely missed beating him to the runoff - would be the last straw. About the only worse news for the Hahn campaign would be an actual indictment ...
The event will probably feature the Hertzberg nod and a good deal of rubbing Hahn's nose in the fact that his staff can't even prepare paperwork properly when billions of dollars in bio-tech money are at stake:
LA County Supervisor Gloria Molina will also speak about the importance of bio-medical research and the partnership between the County and the City to create a bio-med park on the Eastside.
The gig goes down at Second Sight, a Sylmar R&D outfit working on electronic retinas that could restore sight to the blind.
LAObserved adds to the feverish mix:
The Villaraigosa campaign only confirms that it has called a 10 a.m. gathering in Sylmar, with county Supervisor Gloria Molina along for the photo op. Hertzberg's brother Jerry works for Molina, but she may also be there to quash the perception that Latinas, most especially Hertzberg's wife, are down on Villaraigosa.
So what does this impending tidal surge of buzz-kill leave Jim Hahn in the way of ammunition in the next four weeks?
More dirty politics. He already shot his wad with the Carlos Vignali meme in '01, but still feels he can gain some mileage by waving that dead fish around. And god knows he and Villaraigosa have a proven taste for mudslinging.
Hahn's also been flinging around a fine old Atwater-Rove-ism, calling Villaraigosa a "flip-flopper" - soon to outpace "liberal" as the ultimate refuge of conservative scoundrels who fall back on the dozens because they've got no game. But for some reason, he won't go after the Councilman where he's the weakest - his CD-14 record.
The demise of a desperate incumbent is like watching a huge ship go down - explosions in the boiler room, water geysering from the funnels amid a massive blazing oil slick. Whatever the nature of Hahn's accusations now - because accusations are about all he has left - it should be a fascinating show.
UPDATE: It's done and, as I predicted, Villaraigosa did a sack dance over the bobbled biomed bid:
"All of us are standing here today with Antonio Villaraigosa for the very same reason: to change Los Angeles," Hertzberg said. "You know that he has the energy. You know he puts together good people. You know he has what it takes to make it happen."
Hertzberg promised that he would be an active player in the Villaraigosa campaign.
"I'm going to give Antonio every amount of energy, ideas, passion — everything I've got," he said.
In Sylmar, Villaraigosa blasted his rival, Mayor James K. Hahn, for failing to properly fill out an application for the city to host a stem cell research center. Los Angeles was eliminated from contention this week when its application was deemed incomplete. The Hahn administration said the city had tried unsuccessfully to clear up the sticking points with state officials.
The city councilman today outlined a plan to focus on bringing biomed and high-tech companies to Los Angeles.
I guess all that bad blood between the former Sacto roommates has dissipated.
