California: Antonio Villaraigosa

The LAT's election team reports on the governor's last-ditch effort to convince voters to vote Yes tomorrow . " Battling anger and indifference on the part of California voters, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger implored them Sunday not to make the state "the poster child for dysfunction" by defeating a host of measures on Tuesday's ballot that seek to restructure the state's bleak finances.

"The governor's visits to three African American churches in Los Angeles came as proponents and opponents of the ballot measures marshaled the last of the millions of dollars they have collected for the special election. Schwarzenegger said Sunday he had been told that about 25% of voters are expected to show up, a paltry percentage that underscores the difficulty of the quest for reliable voters.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, should she run for governor in 2010, would be sitting pretty, with a 22-point lead in the latest Field Poll.

On the Republican side, Meg Whitman, former eBay CEO, has the early lead with 21 percent support, with 54 percent undecided.

Those numbers are for the hypothetical match-ups 460 days from now. Capitol Alert has the exclusive statistical tabulations.

The GOP primary:

Whitman: 21 percent
Campbell: 18 percent
Poizner: 7 percent
Undecided: 54 percent

The Dem primary:

Feinstein: 38 percent
Brown: 16 percent
Villaraigosa: 16 percent
Newsom: 10 percent
Garamendi: 4 percent

Former Controller Steve Westly, schools chief Jack O'Connell and Treasurer Bill Lockyer weigh in at 2 percent or less.

No surprise here: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa coasted to reelection on Tuesday, grabbing 55 percent of the vote in the latest tally by the county clerk.

His closest challenger, Walter Moore, had 26 percent of the vote.

Measure B, a key plank of Villaraigosa's renewable energy platform, was deadlocked as of this morning, but slightly behind:

Yes:
109,183 votes

No:
110,505

An unknown number of provisional and absentee ballots remain,

In the city attorney race, Council Jack Weiss won a five-person race by 10 percentage points. He'll be in a runoff on May 19 with Carmen "Nuch" Trutanich

Councilwoman Wendy Greul coasted into the controller's post, avoiding a runoff with more than 65 percent of the vote.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa secured a second four-year term in Tuesday's election. But one of his closest allies, Councilman Jack Weiss, was headed for a May 19 runoff in the contest for city attorney.

With about half of the votes counted, Villaraigosa avoided a runoff against the second-place candidate, attorney Walter Moore.The mayor had been expected to secure the needed majority, given that he had appeared in television commercials for himself and two other campaigns -- and had outspent Moore by a ratio of 15 to 1.

Taking the stage shortly before 11 p.m. at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel downtown, Villaraigosa was greeted with a short burst of applause.