LAT: 3 months after primary, Mayor Villaraigosa endorses Angelides

[DeepModem Mom]

Mayor Villaraigosa Endorses Phil Angelides for Governor
By Mark Z. Barabak, Times Staff Writer
September 5, 2006


(KTLA)
Angelides picks up mayoral support

SAN FRANCISCO -- After months of conspicuously keeping his distance, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today endorsed Treasurer Phil Angelides for governor, pledging to "work day and night" for his fellow Democrat in the race to unseat Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Villaraigosa delivered his support at a news conference at a subway stop in San Francisco's heavily Latino Mission District. He was joined onstage by a grinning Angelides as well as San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and the mayors of Sacramento, Berkeley and Richmond.

Unlike the others, who delivered only brief remarks, Villaraigosa never mentioned Schwarzenegger by name in his roughly eight minutes of remarks. Instead, Villaraigosa praised Angelides, dwelling at length on the issue of public education and saying his fellow Democrat was the one person in the state with the "wherewithal" to get California "back on track."

"I will work day and night to get this man elected as the next governor," Villaraigosa said to a crowd of about 100 supporters mixed with passersby, drawn to the TV cameras and elaborate stage set up above the city's 16th Street BART stop.

Villaraigosa's endorsement came nearly three months after Angelides won the bitterly fought Democratic primary for the chance to face Schwarzenegger in November....

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-090506endorse,0,7437715.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[longship]

1. Well. This is the campaign kick-off week.

This would be the appropriate timeframe for endorsements.

[fooj]

2. Smart move, IMO.

I can't believe that it took him THIS long. I'll take whatever we can get at this point.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. Some BACKGROUND from the article --

T"here was also an unhappy personal history between Villaraigosa and Angelides, which played a part in the mayor's standoffishness. Villaraigosa ran for mayor twice in the last five years. Both times, Angelides was noncommittal.

But none of those tensions were on display today, when all was smiles and shows of public unity."

[fooj]

5. Thanks for the info...

:hi:

[PeaceProgProsp]

4. "after 3 months" = spin. Nobody pays attention to politics until

after labor day.

This was going to be a big media event, so they saved it for the first day after labor day.

the media is on arnold's side, so they spin it as, "what was villaraigosa waiting for?"

It's such complete and utter bullshit.

[JI7]

6. so i guess the earlier LA Times (which has gone right) was full of shit

campaign season really starts up now so it's a good time to hold the public endorsements for big name people even if they already knew they woudl endorse them.

now if we can get behind Dem infighting Gossip articles and focus on the issues and Arnold's failures and lies and Angelides agenda and record.

[SoCalDemGrrl]

7. Villaraigosa played it safe, waited for Schwarzeneger's nod on the schools

which I believe was promised by Arnold over the weekend and then

threw his support to Angelides.


In my opinion though Angelides is a VERY WEAK candidate and I much preferred

Steve Westly :(

I think the Dems will lose this time --- although I will support the party's candidate.....

[Ignacio Upton]

9. I'm not from CA, and I haven't been following the race

But I feel like Angelides (and Westly too) were both CA Democratic versions of Bob Dole. Plus, Arnold has been trying to position himself to the left as a way to win back moderate supporters that he's lost since 2003.

[PurityOfEssence]

8. Villaraigosa is a demagogue and an opportunist

His heart may be in the right place in many ways and he does care about the weak and downtrodden, but he's a greasy little pol. I voted against him because Hahn was being railroaded. Admittedly, he has more charisma than Hahn, but that's not hard.

Venting is sometimes the best way to get over things, but I've still got much of this guy stuck in my craw. He should have heartily endorsed Angelides right after the primary, but he was too busy currying favor to engineer his autocratic takeover of the L.A. Unified School District. His ego is enormous (not that this sets him apart from most politicians) and his movements are more attuned to personal advancement than public service.

Lest we forget, he played the race card in a huge way to be elected, and that's more than a bit nauseating. I sit annoyed in the City of Lost Anglos.

This man has extreme ambitions, and his policy desires take a back seat to them. You too will weary of him if you keep watching.

He should have endorsed immediately, but his ambition got in the way.

[SoCalDemGrrl]

10. Didn't vote for Villaraigosa,but I have to say he's a hardworking guy..

He seems to be everywhere, even put additional traffic cops to try and combat LA's obnoxious

gridlock and I admire his persistence in tackling the public school situation which

as everyone knows is a disaster (less than 50% graduation rate in MANY high schools) ... so,

I'm taking a wait and see attitude concerning Antonio.