Debates

In 1986, lawmakers decided the problem of illegal immigration had to be dealt with. More than 3 million people were living in the United States after crossing the border illegally or overstaying their visas. A new law signed by President Ronald Reagan gave legal status and a path to citizenship to most of those unauthorized residents - helping many secure a slice of the American dream but also giving fuel to critics who sought to turn "amnesty" into a pejorative. Less than 30 years later, the number of immigrants living in the country illegally is thought to have nearly quadrupled, and the freighted baggage of amnesty looms over new efforts to reform the nation's immigration laws.

In their feisty final debate before election day, controller candidates Dennis Zine and Ron Galperin repeatedly hammered an insider-versus-outsider theme, seeking to convince voters they would be best prepared to be the city's next chief auditor and accountant. Zine, completing 12 years on the City Council and a 33-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, said he'll be ready to navigate City Hall on his first day. "I know how the system works. I don't need to be trained," Zine said at the Wednesday face-off before the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn.

Re "Why don't they just answer the question?," Opinion, Sept. 23 I was about 12 years old when I heard a debate on the radio that prompted me to ask my parents why the debaters didn't answer the questions. Fast-forward 61 years and the names and faces have changed, but a politician's refusal to respond to a question with a related and meaningful answer remains unchallenged. As long as moderators remain fearful of appearing overly aggressive or mindful that a candidate may start refusing interview requests, a dumbed-down society that is more enamored of sound bites and reality shows will continue to be satisfied with evasion and subterfuge.

TONATICO, Mexico - Armando Guadarrama was navigating his taxi through the narrow streets of this central Mexico pueblo on a recent Saturday morning, some 2,000 miles from the Beltway. But like many here, Guadarrama was up-to-the-minute with the immigration reform push that is the talk of Washington. When he spoke of its odds, the 40-year-old could sound like a hard-bitten D.C. veteran, grumbling over a scotch at the Old Ebbitt Grill. He sniffed incredulously at President Obama's statement, a day earlier, that he was "absolutely convinced" that reforms would pass this year.

Crowds of Lincoln High School students flooded the sidewalks along Broadway recently as another school day came to an end. But 16-year-old Tania Navarro wasn't in the crowd. She sat inside one of the school's bungalow classrooms, tapping her pencil against the sheet of paper in front of her. "I love to argue," she said. But her penchant for verbal confrontation hadn't landed her in detention hall.

HENDERSON, Nev. - With the last of the presidential debates behind him, Mitt Romney barnstormed across the West on Tuesday, telling a crowd in Nevada that the debates had “supercharged” his campaign and dismissing the president as a “status quo” candidate who had yet to reveal his agenda for the next four years. More than 6,000 people crowded into an outdoor amphitheater in Henderson to see Romney and  his running mate, Paul D. Ryan, who had just flown in from Grand Junction, Colo.

With the final Republican presidential debate of 2011 now in the books, we can declare a clear winner: Mitt Romney. That is, in face time at least. A new study from the University of Minnesota's "Smart Politics" project found Romney bested the rest of the field in speaking time by more than a half hour over the course of 10 of the year's 13 candidate forums. In total, the former Massachusetts governor has had about 2 hours and 16 minutes of speaking time. Rick Perry was closest behind him at 1 hour, 45 minutes and 27 seconds.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - While President Obama rallies his supporters at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., Mitt Romney plans to spend much of next week preparing for the fall debates. After his rallies in Cincinnati and Jacksonville on Saturday, Romney is headed to his lakeside vacation home in Wolfeboro, N.H., for Labor Day weekend. He has no public events planned Sunday or Monday. The Democratic convention will hold televised proceedings Tuesday through Thursday, with unofficial gatherings on Labor Day. Romney may hold events later in the week; his aides previously said the Republican nominee would likely campaign in swing states during the convention.

So, I asked the candidates Tuesday night: How many mayoral debates does this one make? Forty-two and a half, Eric Garcetti said, in a bemused tone. A half debate? Maybe that was one where some of the principal candidates weren't there. Or a debate so stricken with debate fatigue that it seemed like only half a debate. ENDORSEMENTS: Los Angeles City Elections 2013 Never mind. The actual number is "more than 30,” and I added one Tuesday night, moderating a debate sponsored by civic and residents' groups in Northeast L.A. Four of the five principle candidates were there; Wendy Greuel was out of town.

A hue and cry is growing across the land ... for an end to the Republican presidential debates. The field of GOP hopefuls, in its various permutations, has participated in 20 candidate forums, starting in May 2011 and continuing, for a time, at a pace of two a week. The most recent was Wednesday in Mesa, Ariz. From the Romney perspective that's more than plenty. Introducing her husband Saturday at a campaign stop in Troy, Mich., Ann Romney joked that she "should do all the talking and let him just stand here and watch me. "  "I've also decided, no more debates," she continued.

On May 24 at China's Hong Kong Convention Center an outfit called Intelligence Squared will host a formal debate during the debut of the newest spinoff of the Art Basel franchise of international art fairs. The motion under consideration will be: "The Market Is the Best Judge of Art's Quality. " Honest. That's the topic for debate. I figure the program harbors two, maybe three minutes of chat -- tops. The panel is a retread of a 2011 program held at London's Saatchi Gallery.

In 1986, lawmakers decided the problem of illegal immigration had to be dealt with. More than 3 million people were living in the United States after crossing the border illegally or overstaying their visas. A new law signed by President Ronald Reagan gave legal status and a path to citizenship to most of those unauthorized residents - helping many secure a slice of the American dream but also giving fuel to critics who sought to turn "amnesty" into a pejorative. Less than 30 years later, the number of immigrants living in the country illegally is thought to have nearly quadrupled, and the freighted baggage of amnesty looms over new efforts to reform the nation's immigration laws.

Wendy Greuel called on Eric Garcetti on Friday night to stop all negative advertising in the last 11 days of the Los Angeles mayor's race, a challenge that her rival dismissed as "disingenuous" for a candidate whose campaign is effectively "bankrupt. " "OK, my campaign consultants are probably not going to like this, but I say no more negative ads," Greuel told Garcetti in a debate aired live on KABC-TV (Channel 7). Garcetti said he had already endured "eight weeks of pummeling" by Greuel, including an accusation that he was "causing cancer for children" with a lease of oil drilling rights beneath his family's property in Beverly Hills.

WASHINGTON - The immigration reform bill crafted by a bipartisan group of senators has deeply split the Republican minority even as lawmakers prepare to take the first votes on the proposal Thursday. Alabama's Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, a conservative former prosecutor with a courtly drawl, has emerged as the leading opponent of the bill. He is aiming at his GOP colleagues with unusual zeal, and calls out the architects of the bill as, essentially, dishonest. "Sen. Flake is wrong: It's not a 13-year path to citizenship or welfare," blared one recent missive from Sessions targeting Arizona's Republican senator, Jeff Flake, who helped draft the legislation.

Re "Obama's Gitmo woes," Opinion, May 5 As a fan of Doyle McManus, I was disappointed to read his claim that most of the detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay were anti-American extremists when they were apprehended. Our own government has acknowledged that many of these men were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border when the war started in 2001. They are guilty of nothing. I also note with dismay the remarks of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)

It's a new front in the long-running battle over reproductive rights, playing out this time as a clash between politics and science. Doctors say there's no medical reason to keep girls of any age from having easy access to the morning-after contraceptive known as Plan B. A judge's ruling last month would do away with current age restrictions. But the Justice Department appealed that ruling last week. The Obama administration wants to make the over-the-counter pill off-limits to girls younger than 15, unless they have a prescription.

If history is any guide, Wednesday's debate between President Obama and Republican Mitt Romney will attract a huge number of viewers -- maybe more than the 52 million who tuned into the first debate in 2008 between Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). How those viewers ultimately judge the results, however, depends on whether they're relying on their eyes, their ears or pundits and the polls. Debates give voters their only opportunity to make a side-by-side comparison of the candidates, so the difference in how they comport themselves can make a big difference.

The recently concluded Republican and Democratic conventions accomplished something important, even if they were long on vague goals and short on detailed plans to get there: They sharply defined the differences between President Obama and his Republican rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Anyone tuning in for even an hour would come away understanding how the two tickets' approaches to government clash. For Republicans, federal spending and regulation are a millstone around the neck of the economy; for Democrats, they're an essential part of the effort to promote growth and an expanding middle class.

"Hi guys, long time no see," Wendy Greuel said, strolling into Tolliver's barbershop as if she were a regular. It was her third mayoral campaign visit to the South Los Angeles institution where the haircuts are cheap and the political banter is free. Lawrence Tolliver, the proprietor, gave Greuel a hug and a compliment.      "I want to make it clear that Wendy Greuel by far is the best-looking candidate for mayor of Los Angeles," Tolliver said. "Unequivocally. I may get in trouble for that," he conceded, referring to President Obama's remark about California Atty.

A day after a debate in which they told Los Angeles voters their prime focus as mayor would be promoting job creation, Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti took up the topic Monday, while also continuing a furious debate over union influence in their runoff election. City Controller Greuel met voters at a Century City mall and handed out her glossy 35-page "Leading L.A. Forward" brochure, which includes a multipoint plan that she said would bring more jobs to Los Angeles. City Councilman Garcetti talked with business leaders in North Hollywood about efforts to expand the aerospace industry in Southern California, saying he would look for ways to help with marketing, job training and government regulation.