A great win

Villaraigosa Sweeps Past Hahn in Historic Victory

Antonio Villaraigosa romped past incumbent James K. Hahn to make history Tuesday, winning election as the first Latino mayor of Los Angeles since the city's pioneer days.

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A Mexican American child of City Terrace, a largely immigrant community on Los Angeles' Eastside, Villaraigosa was raised by his mother after his father abandoned the family. He grew up in poverty and has said he saw his father beating his mother.

After bouncing in and out of high school, he went on to graduate from UCLA and earn a law degree at People's College of Law. Villaraigosa became a teachers union organizer, then won a state Assembly seat in 1994.

His outgoing personality and skill at raising money served him well in Sacramento; he won the powerful job of Assembly speaker in 1998, then spent much of the next two years preparing his first run for mayor of Los Angeles.

Villaraigosa kicked Hahn's ass by almost 20 points, which was especially sweet considering Hahn's vicious attacks.

More than anything else, Hahn painted his rival as soft on crime. The mayor's goal: to build support among white Republicans and conservatives, many of them in the West Valley, and the least likely of the city's voters to side with Villaraigosa.

In a TV interview last weekend, Hahn pressed the point by saying his foe took "the side of the street gangs" when Villaraigosa was a leader of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.

"He really doesn't enjoy stiff sentences against criminals," said Hahn, who closed his campaign with ads hammering the challenger for voting against tougher penalties for child abusers who kill children.

Congratulations to former union organizer, ACLU president, and now Mayor Villaraigosa.