Elections

A two-year campaign that has drawn record spending will see either the first woman or the first Jew elected as Los Angeles mayor. But despite those milestones, candidates Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti sped around the city Sunday trying to avoid another distinction: drawing the lowest turnout for an open mayoral seat in modern history. The two candidates reached out to voters in churches, at a pizza parlor and in a bowling alley on a long day of campaigning - their last extended opportunity to connect directly to voters before Tuesday's election.

It's a small swath of Los Angeles, near the city's heart, that hasn't received much attention from the mayoral candidates. But a Times analysis shows that a 2.8-square-mile, Mid-Wilshire neighborhood has had an unmatched record of picking mayors in both primary and runoff elections since 2001. And interviews suggest it could again be a bellwether of the concerns, apathy and ambivalence voters take to the polls Tuesday as they choose the city's new chief executive. Both Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti have supporters here, though most voters approached on a recent day voiced the sort of indifference that could keep turnout near record lows.

No, wait, don't turn the page. Yes, I'll admit it. This is yet another column on Tuesday's election in Los Angeles, the race half the city doesn't care about and the other half hasn't heard about, but DO NOT turn the page. OK, I'll give you $5 to read this. All right, make it $10. Would you stay with me for $20 if I promise Randy Newman's going to make a cameo? Sure, you've got your reasons for tuning out. Some of you think Wendy Garcetti and Eric Greuel are the same person, so it doesn't matter which of them is the next mayor.

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.

SACRAMENTO - Facing a possible two-day strike next week by patient care and technical workers, the five large University of California medical centers are starting to cancel elective surgeries that had been scheduled as soon as Monday, officials said. Emergency care will not be shut and patients already in the five hospitals across the state will continue to receive care. But many elective procedures will delayed until after the potential strike, set for Tuesday and Wednesday, according to John Stobo, UC's senior vice president for health sciences and services.

Any kind of political communication -- be it a mailer, a phone call, a billboard -- is required by law to identify who paid for it. But at least three signs supporting the reelection of Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich have sprung up without the required disclosure. First came a large sign affixed to a building fronting the busy I-5 where the freeway passes through LA.'s northeast communities. It showed up in January, during the city primary election. In April, another billboard, bearing the same "Re-Elect Carmen Trutanich for LA City Attorney" message as the first, sprang up at a nearby Atwater Village intersection.

TEHRAN - Iranians must wait until next week to find out who will be on the ballot in next month's presidential election, a key electoral panel said Thursday, as it continued to mull the fate of two prospective candidates who have shaken up the race. The Guardian Council, which vets office seekers, said it needed an extension until Tuesday to judge the suitability of the nearly 700 presidential aspirants. A council official told reporters that 10 or more candidates may be approved, a relatively high number that could make it difficult for one to win a majority without a runoff election.

After a contest for mayor of Los Angeles that has consumed the better part of two years, the two finalists, their staffs, the media and a largely disinterested electorate doubtless would welcome an end to the drama Tuesday, election day. But the large number of Angelenos voting by mail, the apparent tightness of the race and the peculiarities of the City Clerk's ballot-counting procedures open the possibility that the winner might not be known for...

The state certified Thursday that it has a sufficient reserve fund to allow pay raises for Gov. Jerry Brown, state lawmakers and other elected officials, but members of a panel that sets pay say they will probably maintain the status quo for another year. Meanwhile, executives for the Senate and Assembly have written to the California Citizens Compensation Commission arguing that lawmakers in California are not paid as much as their counterparts in New York if stipends for committee assignments are counted.

Advertising company Lamar sued the city of Los Angeles two months ago, demanding the right to install new digital billboards in such neighborhoods as Sherman Oaks, Silver Lake, Glassell Park and the Fairfax district. Lamar's involvement in city politics did not stop there. Since it filed that lawsuit, the company has financed scores of billboards for candidates in the May 21 election - 100 for mayoral hopeful Wendy Greuel, 100 for city controller candidate Dennis Zine and 20 apiece for City Council candidates Curren Price, Nury Martinez and Gil Cedillo.