NATIONAL
February 15, 2012 | By Mark Z. Barabak and John Hoeffel, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has been selected chairman of this summer's Democratic National Convention, elevating his role as a campaign surrogate and raising his national profile as he weighs his political future. A formal announcement was scheduled Wednesday in Washington, and the mayor plans to join President Obama in Holmby Hills at a Wednesday night fundraiser for Obama's reelection effort. "I've always planned to campaign" for the president, Villaraigosa said in an interview, and he readily accepted when Jim Messina, Obama's campaign manager, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the head of the Democratic National Committee, called last week to offer him the convention post.
NEWS
December 29, 2011 | By Peter Nicholas
The mood in camp Obama is picking up these days, with the president's poll numbers inching northward and Republicans mired in what could turn out to be a prolonged, expensive battle for the GOP nomination. When Obama campaign officials look at a map of the U.S., they see any number of viable routes toward the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the presidency. In a fundraising pitch Thursday, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina laid out five potential pathways to the magic number.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
August 5, 2009 | Elaine Woo
Inola Henry, an educator, teachers union leader and longtime Democratic Party activist on the local, state and national levels, died July 26 at her home in Los Angeles. She was 66. The cause was a heart attack, according to her son, Carl.
ENTERTAINMENT
June 22, 2009 | Mark Olsen
For his latest documentary, "Convention," filmmaker AJ Schnack wanted to examine the small-scale work that goes into mounting a large-scale event. He chose to focus on the behind-the-scenes stories of the countless people last summer who helped stage the Democratic National Convention in Denver, recruiting a dream team of colleagues from the world of nonfiction cinema to detail the massive effort required to put on the historic event.
NATIONAL
December 11, 2008 | ASSOCIATED PRESS
Financial giants and other large firms now being bailed out by the government spent millions underwriting the Democratic and Republican conventions last summer, just weeks before coming to Washington seeking multibillion-dollar handouts. The big donors included AIG, Ford Motor Co., Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Freddie Mac.
NATIONAL
November 16, 2008 | DeeDee Correll, Correll is a Times staff writer.
The first wave of trials for protesters arrested during the Democratic National Convention has resulted in a stream of acquittals in what the defendants are calling an embarrassment to Denver and proof that prosecutors ought to drop the rest of the cases. In trials for the first nine of 106 people arrested during the convention, all but two defendants have won acquittals on charges that they participated in anarchist demonstrations on the opening night of the convention.