Villaraigosa Avoids Answering To The Voters

The general election for Mayor of the City of Los Angeles takes place March 3, 2009– roughly 4 weeks away.  One might think that the race for the chief executive of the second largest city in the United States would be a well publicized race with debates between the candidates.  The current Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, has been off the radar for the entire election cycle.  He doesn’t even have a campaign website and has no scheduled public appearances.  How does he expect to win the election?  By playing defense and capitalizing on his name recognition.

See a list of all candidates in the Los Angeles City Election.

Mayor Villaraigosa is challenged by 9 contenders.  Most of them are unknown and managed to collect the 500 signatures needed to qualify for the ballot.  The only person considered a threat to Villaraigosa is Walter Moore, a right-leaning lawyer who ran in the 2005 mayoral election.

Villaraigosa has spent no time, energy or money on his campaign for re-election.  Some might find his strategy strange, but the truth is it is probably the best way to win the election.

Playing Defense

Antonio Villaraigosa has a few bad marks on his record.  For starters the divorce of him from his wife and the discovery that he was having an affair with a reporter from Spanish language news station Telemundo.  Also, his pet project, a subway connecting the current rail with Santa Monica will be more expensive and time consuming than expected.  The project will not be complete for 30 years.

With 9 people trying to prove they are better than him, Antonio Villaraigosa avoids large amounts of criticism and avoids having to defend his decisions if he refuses to make public appearances or debate.  Any excess public appearance is an extra opportunity for his work the last 4 years to be criticized.  By laying low he avoids the bad press.

Name Recognition

By accepting all of the campaign contributions from the local interest groups, Antonio limits his opponents’ ability to run a major campaign against him.  As long as no other candidate can get significant media attention, he will have the most recognizable name on the ballot.  Voters will see his name and the occupation ‘Mayor of Los Angeles’ and will pick him without thinking about it.  He will coast into office.

If Walter Moore or any other challanger expects to beat Villaraigosa, they need to get significant media coverage– specifically television time.  Unfortunately, the media loves to hate Villaraigosa and are unlikely to help another candidate take his seat unless they purchase major amounts of advertising time.