Endorsements Help Define Garcetti and Greuel

Since winning spots in the mayoral runoff, Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel have been scurrying around Los Angeles rolling out new endorsements as they seek to gain an edge in what is expected to be a tight, low-turnout election.

In statewide and national races, many endorsements are seen as little more than window dressing. But political observers say that in this mayoral contest, some nods could play an outsized role, both in differentiating two Democrats who are similar in many ways and in determining who goes to the polls in an election that few voters appear to care about.

"This is an unusual election because I think the endorsers seem to be acting as a surrogate for the candidates. I don't know that I've seen that to this degree before," said Raphael J. Sonenshein, executive director of the Edmund G. "Pat" Brown Institute of Public Affairs at Cal State LA "I think that's because the candidates have not quite defined themselves clearly.… The surrogates are probably better known and better defined than the candidates." (Read more here.) 

-cw

CityWatch

4-4-13