[img]1646|left|Kevin James||no_popup[/img]Twenty-five days out from the March 5 primary election, the semi-final round to determine the next mayor of Los Angeles, 49-year-old attorney/broadcaster Kevin James, the only Republican, the only conservative, the only non-elected candidate among the frontrunners, and easily the youngest, is seeking to duplicate Richard Riordan’s accomplishment of 1997.
That was the last time Los Angeles elected a Republican to City Hall.
Can Mr. James repeat 16-year-old history?
“Absolutely,” he says, naturally.
He expects to qualify next month for the runoff round May 21 against either City Controller Wendy Greuel – who has drawn more ink lately than all rivals cumulatively – or City Councilman Eric Garcetti. The latter two entered the race a year ago as the drop-dead finalists along with still another termed-out Councilperson, Jan Perry. From the start, Ms. Perry has been given a considerably smaller chance.
A New Direction
Since last spring, Mr. James, whose law practice specializes in entertainment, has presented his agenda as the enlightened alternative to the failed policies of his three office-holding opponents who, he notes, have brought Los Angeles to bankruptcy’s front door.
Especially for a Republican in an overwhelmingly left-wing environment, Mr. James has attracted increasingly serious looks from liberal media for at least three reasons –
- A bundle of fresh, alternative ideas.
- Interminable youthful energy.
- Arguably, he is the most articulate contender.
When it comes to liberal media attention, and generally fair treatment that never is to be presumed for a non-liberal, it does not hurt Mr. James’s cause that he is openly gay, always has been since arriving here a quarter-century ago.
The Los Angeles Times and the LA Weekly are intrigued that a philosophical conservative is equally frank about his sexual orientation – and has been throughout his accomplished professional career.
Doesn’t fit with the philosophy of their publications.
The GOP Vote
Mr. James’s supporters note that there are 300,000 registered Republicans eligible to vote.
In a city where voting numbers notoriously are skinny, if Mr. James can arouse Republicans, he has a chance to make the showdown round.
“A lot of momentum is out there, and the arm-squeeze, as I call it, is constant,” Mr. James said before this morning’s latest candidates forum downtown at LA Live.
“The media is starting to focus on this race as they should. People are starting to recognize that they have a viable alternative. They always wanted an alternative. That is why the Undecideds poll so high. When you look at polls, Undecided is consistently the top votegetter at this point.
“That,” said Mr. James, “is where my votes will come from.”
Some of them. A larger chunk may be the conservative community in the San Fernando Valley, where he is dueling with Ms. Greuel, head to head, and maybe, accidentally, even face to face.
This weekend, the affable Oklahoma native and his team will be going door to door in Northridge, Granada Hills and North Hills where they – and Ms. Greuel – believe a gold mine of untapped votes resides.
Hard evidence supporting Mr. James’s claim to make the finals has been periodically encouraging but not on the same planet, fiscally, with his competition.
Three weeks ago, a poll showed the Republican with the Huck Finn looks and personality to be in a statistical deadheat for second place. When you are a longshot in a race with people who make the newspapers if they exhale, you cling to such data with an iron grip.
(To be continued)
