Candidates in the March 3 primary election in Los Angeles have zeroed in on the thousands of newly registered voters who lined up at the polls in November's presidential election, hoping to boost turnout in an off-year race that lacks a big-ticket political slugfest.
This year's mayor's race lacks the sizzle of the 2005 election, when Antonio Villaraigosa snatched the office from incumbent James K. Hahn in a crowded and hotly contested campaign. That leaves the wide-open races for city attorney and controller, as well as a $3-billion solar energy ballot measure, to tantalize the citywide electorate.
No one expects to see anything approaching the 80% record turnout of November, but the campaigns hope the post-election Barack Obama euphoria in this heavily Democratic city will motivate enough voters to come near the 24% turnout in the 2005 primary.
The campaign supporting Measure B, the city's $3-billion solar energy proposal, is specifically targeting newly registered voters with telephone calls and campaign mailers, financed primarily by local labor organizations. Groups affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union have poured $270,000 into the pro-Measure B campaign, and will be one of the solar program's biggest beneficiaries because they represent the city workers who would install the units.
"Any other year, in a March election like this, we would be expecting a low turnout. Barack Obama's election has brought in a broad new coalition into the Los Angeles electorate," said Sarah Leonard, spokeswoman for Measure B. "It's a new pot of voters that we believe are predisposed to support our measure."
To help do so, the organization has enlisted Mitchell Schwartz, who ran Obama's California campaign.
City elections officials are wary about predicting turnout for the March 3 election, but said there were some encouraging signs. The number of people receiving permanent vote-by-mail ballots has more than doubled since the 2005 election, increasing from 107,342 to 232,730 -- in large part because of the excitement of last year's presidential campaign.
Monday was the first day voters who won't automatically receive a vote-by-mail ballot could request one.
Only one of the eight City Council races appears to be competitive, the six-candidate political scrum to replace Councilman Jack Weiss. (Weiss is running for city attorney against former Deputy Dist. Atty. Carmen "Nuch" Trutanich and three other candidates.)
