They're Not All Alike
Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn, who is up for reelection, invited Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley to Hollywood last week to help unveil new security cameras, a crime-fighting tool heavily used in the Windy City. Daley and Hahn have a lot in common. Both are sons of larger-than-life politician-fathers -- the late Mayor Richard J. Daley, the long-serving and controversial "boss" of Chicago, and the late L.A. County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn. Both sons are known for low-key personalities and less-than-stirring speeches.
That's where the similarities end. The younger Daley, who has been in office since 1989, has been hailed as one of the best urban leaders in the country. The younger Hahn, who to be fair is just finishing his first term, faces a pack of serious challengers. Although all the candidates in this nonpartisan election are Democrats, the incumbent Hahn could not even win the Democratic Party endorsement.
What defines that elusive quality, leadership? Will Hahn, if reelected, achieve it? Do Los Angeles voters care enough to wonder? With just five weeks to go until the March 8 city election, voter interest in who will lead the country's second-largest city seems to amount to a collective "Whoever."
A quick and blatantly unscientific poll of usually conscientious voters brought the following explanations:
* The Iraq war crowds everything else out.
* Last fall's presidential election left everyone exhausted.
* Ditto for the statewide recall election of former Gov. Gray Davis the year before that.
* No candidate has said anything that grabs anybody.
* Um, who's running?
Not one of these excuses would wash in the nation's largest city. New Yorkers couldn't wait to get the presidential race out of the way so they could concentrate on their mayoral matchup -- and that election's not until fall.
Of course, the mayors of New York City and Chicago are almost mini-governors, with large city councils -- 50 or more members -- that function more like legislatures, not like the L.A. council's 15 mini-mayors. Both Daley and New York's Michael Bloomberg hold sway over their cities' schools.
Or maybe in northern climes, people have to find something to take their minds off the cold and snow. Here it takes a politician with movie-star charisma to distract us. Lately, it seems to take a real movie star.
