I’ve been crystal clear that I’m anything but comfortable about the choices that are awaiting myself and my fellow Californians on the primary ballot that is now sitting on my nightstand awaiting my attention. I’ve already mused about the underwhelming and unfortunate situation that we find the gubernatorial race in, and I’m sorry to say things haven’t changed all that much since my cry for help was shared nearly two months ago while a great deal of the so-called decision makers and career shapers were cosplaying their way around Los Angeles as candidates avoided direct confrontation. Zooming on the city itself, and the mayoral decision that will be attempted to be reached simultaneously on or around June 2nd, it’s no better nor populated with people willing to go face-to-face than the race for Sacramento was or is.
What should have been a watershed moment for such confrontation was aborted on Monday, as THE LOS ANGELES TIMES’ Noah Goldberg reported:
Organizers on Monday canceled a televised forum for Los Angeles mayoral candidates after City Councilmember Nithya Raman dropped out, which meant all three of the leading candidates would be no-shows. Mayor Karen Bass originally committed to the forum but dropped out last week, saying she would instead travel to Sacramento to lobby state officials for funding on a variety of issues including homelessness and the Palisades fire recovery. Raman then canceled on Monday, with her campaign saying her main reason to attend the forum was to debate Bass.
“We’re disappointed that Mayor Bass canceled her participation in the debate. We welcome opportunities to debate all the candidates in the future,” said Jeff Millman, a spokesperson for Raman’s campaign…Wednesday’s forum was expected to be the last featuring leading candidates for mayor before the June 2 primary…The third leading candidate, former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, had earlier declined the invitation to appear, citing a scheduling conflict.
Frankly, Pratt at least knew to leave well enough alone, as he actually proved he was more than capable of holding his own on a stage with these experienced politicians when he took the rare opportunity to put on a suit and tie and show up the week before. Sure, you could read the expectedly favorable review that FOX NEWS’ Charles Creitz dropped in the aftermath, and you’d be more than justified in calling it biased. The very existence of the CALIFORNIA POST since it was launched in January was to amplify anyone and everyone who could turn California red, and incumbents Bass and Gavin Newsom have been their targets from Day One. But I for one am more moved by the headline, kicker and first non-paywall-hidden paragraph that VANITY FAIR’s Maxwell Adler shared with his allegedly less tolerant readership:
Spencer Pratt Had a Scary-Good Showing In the Los Angeles Mayoral Debate…Pratt, the race’s lone Republican, needed to show that he was capable of more than farming outrage online and firing off meme-ready attacks. And for stretches of Wednesday night’s debate, the former star of The Hills managed to do exactly that…Nithya Raman had just finished criticizing Los Angeles’s homelessness spending when the debate moderators turned to Spencer Pratt for his reaction. “Mayor Bass would like to respond,” Pratt said, stunning the moderators into silence by giving up his time. The former reality star—whose campaign is using social media to conjure a lurid Democratic dystopian LA stocked with fentanyl, super meth, and “free pussies” for transgender migrants—had, for a fleeting moment, sounded statesmanlike. “I’m a nice person, actually,” Pratt added after yielding to Mayor Bass yet again.
And since I’m always a slave to numbers, I’m even more impressed by what NEWSWEEK’s
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N)ew polling shows Pratt second behind incumbent Mayor Karen Bass ahead of next month’s election, elevating a campaign that was once largely viewed as a long-shot celebrity bid…A recent poll from Emerson College Polling/Inside California Politics showed 30 percent of respondents saying they supported Bass, up from 20 percent in March. Pratt followed with 22 percent, more than doubling his support from 10 percent in March…Raman came third with 19 percent of support, and smaller numbers of respondents said they supported other candidates or were undecided, though the number of undecided respondents dropped dramatically from 51 percent in March to 16 percent in May. The poll was conducted May 9-10 among 1,000 likely primary voters, and it had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.
I know way too many people who are apoplectic about the possibility of yet another ex-reality TV star turned Republican upstart with a weight problem he’s desperately trying to hide being elected by what they see as a duped and ignorant consitutency that should be far more forgiving of an established Democrat like Bass. But as I mused in the wake of last year’s devastating wildfires, when Bass chose to prioritize a trip to Ghana as reports of the impending disaster were being received it cemented a disdain I had for her that, unlike Pratt–whose impressive Pacific Palisades mansion was gutted in those fires–went back a lot further. Do recall I specifically shared how Bass’ political choices indirectly cost me my own home–and a lot more. So no, I’m not gonna give her a pass.
And as for Raman, whose popularity initially ignited (word choice intentional) when adjacent neighborhoods in her district such as Altadena were incinerated with greater long-term damage than even Pratt and his fellow coastal elites suffered, her political ideologies are eerily reminiscent of those that got Zohran Mamdami elected as New York City’s mayor. You check in with anyone in his constituency lately? Unless they’re under 35, renters, or Palestine-loving, they’re anything but thrilled. They’re about to be nickel and dime taxed to balance a budget that a majority of working class voters aren’t impacted by. And besides, when was the last time anyone in Los Angeles envied anything about New York City? Dodger fans in particular are still gloating about the 2024 World Series. Why should Raman think channeling his ideologies is going to be impactful enough?
I don’t fault her for trying per se; after all, she was whom some local DNC representatives saw as a viable alternative to the challenged and conflicted Bass incumbency. I do very much question why they limited themselves to strictly a democratic socialist at a time when more populist needs are rampant. My biggest complaint about Democrats in this area is their uncanny inability to read the room. I consistently challenge those who wave flags and shout “F-ck Trump” to find someone out of nowhere to amplify. Pratt is indeed that, like him or not.
So, too, is this person who was the subject of a revealing and riveting interview that THE NEW YORK TIMES’ Lulu Garcia-Navarro dropped yesterday morning that thanks to my wonky alogorithm and the lack of original Saturday content I’ve listened to five times. Her opening graf should give any local politician here grave pause:
Graham Platner, the leading Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Maine, was supposed to participate in a debate with his chief rival, Janet Mills, last week. Mills was the party establishment’s favorite — she’s the state’s governor and was the pick of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Platner is the guy who seemingly came out of nowhere — a progressive 41-year-old military vet and oyster farmer pitching a working-class revolution.
The pitch really, really worked, at least with Maine’s Democratic base and with donors in-state and out, and before the debate could even happen, Mills dropped out. That makes Platner, who has never held elected office and has been a source of anxiety and debate among some in the party, the presumptive nominee, now running against the state’s longtime and heretofore unbeatable Republican senator, Susan Collins.
It merits a full read and/or listen–only once will be fine. I really would love to ask those who are either to Bass or flailingly tossing up Raman–didn’t someone like Planter even cross their minds? Maybe a disgruntled out-of-work crew member seeing countless production jobs flee the city and state who might actually want to make it their mission to stop the bleeding to far-flung locales like Georgia, New Jersey and Ireland who offer far greater tax incentives than anyone here is willing to? I know plenty of those people personally. They’re far less impressed with Pratt than I am, but yet are even more out on Bass. And while it may churn their stomach, they’re beginning to rationalize that this is a state that elected the respective stars of BEDTIME FOR BONZO and KINDERGARTEN COP as governors and a one-time tap dancer as senator long before Fat Orange Jesus transitioned into politics. (The tap dancer was George Murphy; I’ll assume you know who the other three are). And yep, they may indeed pull the lever in Pratt’s favor–and, sorry, children, so might I.
Hence you might be inclined to save your true vitriol for the cowardly move Bass chose to make that has now placed this decision into the hands of voters without another chance for her to at least try and outthink, outsmart and outwit. That is how you defeat reality stars, toots.
Until next time…