According to a poll released last week by San Francisco-based David Binder Research, the five-point advantage Los Angeles 8th District Councilman Bernard Parks has in name recognition over California State Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, in their race for the 2nd District supervisorial seat, is blown away as soon as voters hear the positives and negatives of both candidates.In a simulated campaign conducted in mid-March, the Binder firm found that among 804 likely voters, Ridley-Thomas took a strong 22-point lead over Parks once they saw the difference between the two candidates and learned something about them other than their names.
Read The Compelling Our Weekly Article On Both Candidates
According to the poll, which was commissioned by labor unions and conducted independently of the Ridley-Thomas campaign, the senator leads the councilman, 45 percent to 23 percent, and improves his position substantially among Democrats, the largest group of voters in the 2nd District.
In other developments in that race, Ridley-Thomas recently added United Teachers Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Teachers Assn., the United Farm Workers of America, the Sierra Club, and the unanimous endorsement of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party to his list of endorsements.
In addition to getting the powerhouse endorsement of Congresswoman Maxine Waters as well as sitting supervisor Yvonne Braithwaite Burke, Parks got the endorsement of the Los Angeles County Business Federation, the new group of business owners formed to counteract the effectiveness of organized labor. Parks is far ahead in fundraising and name recognition as the former Los Angeles Chief of Police as well as being named as People Magazine's Most Beautiful People.
Meanwhile Mervyn Dymally and Rod Wright, both candidates for the 25th state Senate District race, are duking it out as well. While my Kappa brother Dymally has raised more money and currently serves as an assemblmen, Wright has secured the endorsement of the California Teachers Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.
Linda Harris-Forster, candidate for Dymally's seat and daughter of the legendary Sweet Alice of Compton, won the endorsement of the California Democratic Party at its convention last weekend, as well as the endorsement of that endorsin’ machine Sheriff Lee Baca. Deborah Sims LeBlanc, also running for the 52nd Assembly District, has been endorsed by the Peace Officers Research Assn. of California — South Bay.
And it looks like Fabian Wesson, wife of LA City Councilman and former California Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson, may be taking a stab at her husband's old seat after Karen Bass is termed out in 2010.
Bass, who will be sworn as the first African American female Speaker of the California Assembly on May 15th, currently represents the 47th District. We have much love for Fabian and we think she would pack quite a wallop in Sacramento. Who knows, Wesson could end up replacing Bass in more ways than one!