It's all they've got. Sadly, these losers are tolerated on FR.
Posted on 05/18/2005 1:04:53 AM PDT by RWR8189
LOS ANGELES - Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa unseated Mayor James Hahn on Tuesday to become the city's first Hispanic mayor in more than a century, confirming the rising political power of Latinos in the nation's second-largest city.
After a lackluster term tainted by corruption allegations at City Hall, Hahn was turned out of office in favor of a high school dropout and son of the barrio who turned his life around to become speaker of the California Assembly and then a member of the Los Angeles City Council.
With 70 percent of precincts reporting, Villaraigosa had 202,861 votes, or 59 percent, to 140,416 votes for Hahn, or 41 percent.
"You all know I love L.A., but tonight I really love L.A.," an exuberant Villaraigosa told supporters.
Villaraigosa will become the first Hispanic mayor of Los Angeles since 1872, back when the city was merely a dusty outpost of only about 5,000 residents on the edge of the Western frontier. Hahn, the scion of a prominent political family, becomes the first Los Angeles mayor in 32 years to be bounced from office.
Villaraigosa, 52, positioned himself as a unity candidate who would bridge racial and ethnic groups in a city that is 48 percent Hispanic, 31 percent white, 11 percent Asian and 10 percent black. The Democrat lined up marquee endorsements from John Kerry to basketball legend Magic Johnson.
The bruising runoff between the two Democrats was a rematch of the 2001 election, in which Hahn rallied to defeat Villaraigosa and win his first term. But Villaraigosa came back strong this year, nearly ousting Hahn in the March primary.
Elsewhere, Pittsburgh held a primary for mayor with the city mired in worst financial crisis since the collapse of the steel industry during the 1980s. And voters in Dover, Pa., picked their candidates for the school board in a community that has been roiled by a new and apparently first-in-the-nation policy requiring that students learn about the "intelligent design" theory of creation.
Hahn's family has been active in Los Angeles politics for decades; his father, Kenneth, was a beloved county supervisor. He touted Los Angeles' dropping crime and argued that he is the man to cure such urban ills such as failing schools and gridlock.
But the coalition of blacks and moderate-to-conservative San Fernando Valley voters that put him in office four years ago broke apart this time. He lost black support because he backed the ouster of Police Chief Bernard Parks, who is black, and suffered fallout from allegations that his administration exchanged city contracts for campaign donations.
And Hahn's lawyerly — some say drab — image left him open to criticism that he isn't up to being the public face of star-studded L.A.
"People want substance rather than style. I think they want results rather than rhetoric," Hahn, 54, said after voting early Tuesday. "You know, maybe I have a charisma deficit disorder, but I've done the job people have elected me to do."
Villaraigosa, who once wore a "Born to Raise Hell" tattoo before turning his life around, promised to bring a fresh start to the city.
"I will never forget where I came from. And I will always believe in the people of Los Angeles," he said Tuesday night.
In other races Tuesday:
_ Former City Councilman Bob O'Connor beat a crowded field of Democrats in the Pittsburgh mayoral primary. O'Connor will be heavily favored to win in November because Pittsburgh is predominantly Democratic. Mayor Tom Murphy is not seeking a fourth term.
_ In Dover, Pa., a party-line split emerged in a school board primary that has made national headlines because of the board's October decision to require that ninth-grade students be told about "intelligent design" when they learn about evolution in biology class. Republicans picked seven incumbent school board members who support the policy, while Democrats favored a slate of seven challengers who say intelligent design doesn't belong in science class. Intelligent design holds that the universe is so complex, it must have been created by some kind of guiding force.
_ Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham, once called "America's Deadliest D.A." for her pursuit of the death penalty, took a big step toward winning a full fourth term by cruising to victory in the Democratic primary. The 64-year-old prosecutor defeated a 38-year-old lawyer who accused Abraham of being soft on City Hall corruption.
_ In Erie, Pa., Mayor Rick Filippi, who is under indictment on charges of using insider information to try to profit from real estate deals, lost his re-election bid in the Democratic primary. The primary came a day before he faced a preliminary hearing in the corruption case.
Arnold who?
Oh yeah, that guy who has to go back to "acting" soon.
I don't think anyone here has anything against Mexico. I think they dislike illegal immigration.
On second though, now that you mention it, "The Macarena" just might be nuclear warhead worthy. They had 50,000 American's in stadiums across America doing that thing. Brainwashed and looking foolish.
Yeah, yeah, nuke the bastards!
Not at all.
That's right.
Just sit there and shut the hell up and pay our taxes there sport.
Rush keeps saying on his program today that the Democrats "can't win anything" anymore, even as this popular liberal sweeps to victory in the Los Angeles mayoralty.
It's all they've got. Sadly, these losers are tolerated on FR.
LOL - being on the right side of a 10% variance equals a LANDSLIDE victory.
And despite people like you and your rhetoric, the GOP will eventually have a majority of Hispanic Americans voting for them.
In our lifetime? I don't think so. The GOP will be wiped out before this new, fastest growing demographic rides to its rescue.
You will not be allowed to hijack FR and turn it into a National Alliance or Storm Front forum."
Why shall we be surprised that a foreign citizen and freepin' New World Order socialist mole would subvert the truth (for months at a time) while maligning actual American patriots?
Who's hijacking what conservative forum once again??
And sometimes an anal suppository is just an anal suppository.
Lol, THIS is the kind of "debate" and brilliant repartee that can be expected from FROBL RAT mutants.
These people are armed with intellectual spitballs.
Heh...
Excellent post btw, WD.
my comment was meant to be sarcastic
It's all they have, pathetic as it is. They think they will shut us up and shut down debate by calling us Nazis and racists.
They are wrong.
But with every one of their transparant race-baiting posts, freepers and lurkers see the two sides well defined in clear relief.
Duly noted (snort).
He "got" your race-baiting sarcasm. Apparantly, you didn't "get" his reply, when he nailed you for what you are.
This is the beginning of the end for LA. As the racist Art Torres proudly proclaimed......"this is the last gasp of white America". Any whites with any sense better sell their homes and property before prices plummet and get the hell out. Soon LA will become indistinguishable from the barrios of Mexico.
It's all they have, pathetic as it is."
Yep, absolutely pathetic...
Demonizing is a "strategery" straight from the liberal/socialist/Democrat/gay/Jesse Jackson playbook.
It's the ONLY card these groups and people have to play; The "truth card" doesn't exist in their deck.
Lucky for us, their race baiting is so clumsy and obvious, that they only help our side.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.