Politico.com

Antonio Villaraigosa's Quest for Wall Street, Washington and Wealth

Are the Koch Brothers Trying to Buy the Los Angeles Times?

Update: The Koch Brothers respond, sort of. See next page. See also: Who Will Buy the Los Angeles Times?The latest rumor about the next owner of the L.A. Times, which is for sale, is a doozy. A bombshell. It's a doozy wrapped in a bombshell exploding inside a Drudge siren. Multiple sources te ... More >>

Mayor Michael Bloomberg Pours $1 Million into LAUSD Elections to Oust Steve Zimmer, Elect Monica Garcia

See also, "LAUSD's Dance of the Lemons," and "Can Kate Anderson, Mom of Twins, Fix LAUSD?"Los Angeles Unified School District, whose teachers union UTLA has squelched attempts to raise student learning by making ineffective certified teachers relearn subject matter and skills, just attracted $1 mill ... More >>

Food News Roundup: White House Beer, Best L.A. Tacos A Recipe for the Elvis Presley Milkshake

Mental Floss: Does drinking booze really keep you warm? Hmmm. Ever gotten drunk in Minnesota? Right. The New York Times Diner's Journal: Slow Food USA gets a new leader. Michael Ruhlman: A review of Alex Witchel's book All Gone, a memoir with refreshments. The Smithsonian: Whether or not diet sod ... More >>

Barack Obama Doesn't Give Antonio Villaraigosa Democratic National Committee Job

One Washington D.C. job can now be marked off the list for Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who appears to have his eyes on a major gig in the national's capital after he leaves office on June 30, 2013. Last month, Politico columnist Alexander Burns wrote that Villaraigosa was "high on some ... More >>

Marijuana: Some Cops Actually Happy About States' Weed Legalization

Federal authorities might not be so giddy about the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington, but some city cops are. Well, some. The group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, long opposed to state and federal laws that make jail-bait of tokers in California and elsewhere, is absolute ... More >>

How Wall Street and Washington Conspired to Spike Gas Prices

By Pete Kotz On July 11, 2008, the price of oil rose to $147 per barrel, a record high. Gas stations engaged in hot pursuit as the price of a gallon rocketed past $4. All hell was about to break loose. The country's largest banks had already begun to implode through arrogance and ineptitude. Now t ... More >>

Exclusive: Mexican Institute Of Sound's "Es-Toy" Video Premiere

The easiest way to get your music released is to be the president of a record company. That's the position Camilo Lara held as the head of EMI Mexico. The occasional DJ used to only be famous among his friends for his year-end holiday mixes. Upon their encouragement, the bowler-hatted Lara -- who ... More >>

Villaraigosa Wants Democratic Presidential Platform to Embrace Same Sex Marriage

You can almost hear the sound of regret coming from the White House. Only a few weeks after President Obama's party leaders named Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as the high profile chair of the Democratic National Convention, the L.A. leader said something that Obama and the party faithful might not ha ... More >>

Kinde Durkee Scandal: Sen. Dianne Feinstein Warns Off Opponents With $5 Million Check

Sen. Dianne Feinstein​Sen. Dianne Feinstein is digging into her own pocket to warn off potential opponents who might think she's vulnerable because of the Kinde Durkee campaign finance scandal.Feinstein intends to write herself a check for $5 million, according to strategist Bill Carrick, confirmi ... More >>

Kinde Durkee Called "The Bernie Madoff Of Campaign Finance Treasurers"

Bernie Madoff and Kinde Durkee​Update: Sen. Dianne Feinstein says she was "wiped out." More below.Another day, another victim of the Kinde Durkee campaign finance scandal.Rep. Susan Davis, a San Diego Democrat and a Durkee client, told supporters over the weekend that more than $250,000 has been s ... More >>

L.A. Democratic Party Lost More Than $200,000 In Kinde Durkee Campaign Finance Scandal

Victimized​Update, 5:18 p.m.: Durkee to be released tonight. See below.The L.A. County Democratic Party confirmed today that it has been victimized in the still-unfolding scandal surrounding campaign treasurer Kinde Durkee.More than $200,000 is missing from the local party's bank account. "We've s ... More >>

Hosni Mubarak Spam: Hilarious Email Asks Us to 'Help Secure the Resources of the President' Amid Billion-Dollar Corruption Charges

PoliticoSoon to be ours!​Good thing we checked our spam folder this morning! Because, buried among Obama scams and penis enlargers, we discovered a total gold mine: A business proposal from an alleged associate of former Eqyptian president and world-class scumbag Hosni Mubarak. The evil dicta ... More >>

Obama en Español: U.S. President Tours Latin America, Talks Chilean Miners, His Own Stellar Immigration Policy (Really?)

The Daily BeastBarack and Michelle, lookin' the part​Updated after the jump: The president makes his last stop in El Salvador. If there's one thing our POTUS can do, it's talk. Barack Obama could talk himself out of Guantanamo Bay through a thick swatch of duct tape. In perfect form, he tur ... More >>

Campaign Finance Reports Show Hollywood's New Chief Lobbyist, Former U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd, is No Stranger to the Movie Industry

Chris Dodd is Hollywood's new man in D.C.​It was big news  when former U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd accepted a job as the chief lobbyist and top dog at the Motion Picture Association of America. Most news stories rightfully highlighted the fact that, due to  lobbying laws, Dodd can't w ... More >>

Steve Cooley For Governor?

​Now that Lisa Murkowski has been declared the winner in Alaska, the highest-profile undecided race in the country may be the one for California attorney general.With that, Politico decides to dip in:If Cooley wins, said Republican strategist Adam Mendelsohn, "he'll be No. 1 on the California Repu ... More >>

Republican Presidential Debate To Be Held At Reagan Library

It's on.​Had enough politics for a while? Well too bad, because the first debate of the 2012 presidential race is just around the corner.Politico and NBC News announced today that they will host the first Republican primary debate sometime next spring at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in S ... More >>

California Propositions 20 and 27: A Peek At The Gerrymandering Soul Of Congressman Howard Berman's Filthy Rich Handmaiden, Haim Saban

By Hillel Aron Mastering the Politburo​Haim Saban is different than you and me: he's the 287th richest man in the world, worth $3.3 billion. The Egyptian Jew, who looks an Ian McShane/Silvio Berlusconi cross, created The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. And he's the biggest giver to Proposition ... More >>

Santa Monica Based Glenn Beck Advertiser Goldline, Under Investigation, Fights Back

Nuggets​Santa-Monica-based Goldline International is already under investigation by the L.A. County District Attorney and the Santa Monica City Attorney for allegedly not delivering what it promises to customers, while also pushing them to buy overpriced gold coins instead of pure gold bullion ... More >>

Bill Clinton Endorses Jerry Brown

​Monday Jerry Brown made a foolish and gratuitous swipe at Bill Clinton, making a subtle reference to Monica Lewinsky. (Follow the link for the back story.) Clinton decided to be the bigger man and endorse Brown, thereby making it a one-day story. "I strongly support Jerry Brown for governo ... More >>

Aide To Sen. Barbara Boxer Arrested On Suspicion Of Carrying Weed

​Sen. Barbara Boxer might not like pot - she's against the initiative that would legalize marijuana in California - but one of her top aides allegedly does. Marcus Stanley, a senior economic adviser, was arrested on suspicion of pot possession after U.S. Capitol Police alleged he tried to "re ... More >>

Meg Whitman May Have Broken Through Against Jerry Brown; Up In New Poll

​The California governor's race has been fairly stable this summer. Jerry Brown has a long history and celebrity in this state, has spent barely a dime of his campaign money but has a campaign operation that hasn't always been stellar (the other day Obama made a fundraising pitch for him and i ... More >>

Prop 19 Pot Legalization: Politico Parachutes In, Offers Little

​Politico dropped into California to report on Prop. 19, California's pot legalization voter initiative, and here's what they offered: Cheesy, snarky headline (California Dreaming For Legal Pot Advocates); point-and-laugh lede about Oaksterdam; perfunctory paragraph about why legalization mi ... More >>

Comment Of The Day Re: Prop. 19 Pot Legalization: Pot Is God's Weed.

​The comment comes from our post from earlier today on Politico's take on Prop. 19, in which we gently mocked the East Coast media's predictably lame coverage of the pot legalization battle. Commenter William Conde takes a theological approach:

Maxine Waters Comes Out Swinging

​Maxine Waters held a press conference in Washington this morning to issue a full-throated response to the ethics charges against her.Waters is accused of arranging a meeting between Treasury Department officials and representatives of OneUnited Bank, in which her husband owned stock.This morning, ... More >>

Rep. Maxine Waters To Face Ethics Trial

​ Updated with Waters' response. Rep. Maxine Waters, a 10-term Democrat who represents south L.A., will face a House ethics trial this fall. The investigation has centered around Waters setting up a meeting between OneUnited Bank, where her husband had been on the board and still had signific ... More >>

Andrew Breitbart's Reaction: Just As You Knew It Would Be

Apologize? Never!​ In one of the least surprising media developments of the year, Andrew Breitbart, the conservative provocateur whose media company is based in Santa Monica, has reacted to an embarrassing journalistic error not by apologizing -- but by going on the attack. Tuesday we wonder ... More >>

Was George Bush's AIDS Strategy Better Than Barack Obama's?

AIDS Healthcare Foundation​AIDS Healthcare Foundation founder Michael Weinstein came out swinging yesterday at a Washington D.C. press conference, offering up that President Barack Obama's AIDS strategy measures up poorly to his predecessor's, former president George W. Bush. "The New York T ... More >>

Two Republican Party Officials Fired Over L.A. Club Outing

An image from Voyeur's website.​Two Republican National Committee officials were fired over the weekend for their part in approving a nearly $2,000 outing at West Hollywood club Voyeur, known for its edgy, sexual theme. The heads of RNC finance director Rob Bickhart and his deputy, Debbie Le ... More >>

Walter Cronkite Dead at 92: What do you remember most?

The news from Politico of the passing of longtime broadcaster Walter Cronkite is bound to bring forth a lot of memories from people who watched him as children, back when the network nightly news shows played a major role in shaping American culture and politics, unlike their far more diminished rol ... More >>

Blues and Ballads on a Budget

Stage Raw: Latino New Works Fest

Obama Wins in Iowa, Huckabee Crushes Romney

Obama wins the Democratic Caucus in Iowa, with 37 percent of the vote, leaving Edwards and Hillary to battle it out for second. On the Republican side, Huckabee took the gold, followed by Romney, then Thompson, then McCain. All of this has been so fully gamed out that it's hard to add any new insig ... More >>