Friday Mixer: Change in temperature and tone in mayor’s race?

Another week has passed in LA politics and the race for mayor is getting uglier between City Councilman Eric Garcetti and City Controller Wendy Greuel.

The runoff is Tuesday, May 21.

Both attacked each other’s integrity in Monday’s debate and now are running TV ads. Garcetti’s the newest entrant on the ‘boob tube’. (Can we even call it that anymore? There are no more tube TVs.)

But I digress.

Greuel’s ad features much-maligned digital billboards and accuse Garcetti of benefiting from a deal the city made with Clear Channel (and CBS) Outdoors to allow for them (they’ve now been turned off because of a lawsuit by another outdoor company). Garcetti held 200 shares of Clear Channel stock at the time. Greuel’s ad, which also accuses him of oil chicanery, ends by painting her opponent as ‘in it for himself’.

Garcetti’s ads are mostly positive – so far – and tout his leadership and his time as councilman representing Silver Lake and Hollywood.

That could change… soon… if new numbers are correct and Garcetti starts to feel the pressure.

A recent Survey USA poll puts Greuel ahead in the race by 3 percentage points. Most other surveys conducted up to now have shown Garcetti ahead.

Is that an outlier? Or are Garcetti’s fortunes getting reversed?

More importantly, are enough people paying attention to this race in the first place?

I spoke to Rick Orlov from the Los Angeles Daily News and Michael Finnegan from the LA Times about what it all means for the race for the next mayor of Los Angeles.