According to LA Weekly‘s Patrick Range McDonald, there’s no doubt that Mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti flip-flopped on the controversial parent trigger mechanism last week. The only thing in doubt heading into tomorrow’s primary vote is whether or not the change in positions — which Garcetti’s campaign described as a “clarification” of his longstanding position —...

New disclosure reports available from LA City Ethics reveal that direct fundraising by candidates — limited to $1,000 per individual contributor —  continues to lag far behind outside fundraising, which is unlimited. One possible interpretation is that candidates are hoping that outside expenditures will be enough to fuel their campaigns.  Another is that candidates are...

District 4 challenger Kate Anderson has Eva Longoria.  District 4 incumbent Steve Zimmer has John Lithgow.  Now, District 2 incumbent Monica Garcia has singer John Legend.

The front section of today’s New York Times includes a big story about the primary day voting for LAUSD School Board that’s going to take place tomorrow. The piece notes that protecting the efforts of Superintendent John Deasy has become a rallying cry for reform advocates such as the Coalition for School Reform, while the...

In a tall office building overlooking Olympic Boulevard, a group of more than a dozen volunteers sat in a circle in a conference room being trained on how to best reach voters on the phone and in the field. One of the keys to the Coalition’s new field campaign is to send volunteers out into...

On Friday, former LAUSD Board Members Yolie Flores and Marlene Canter weighed in with an oped in the LA Daily News:  “When people with no vested, personal interest in the outcome try to help elect reform-minded candidates, they are branded as “outsiders” who are trying to “buy elections.”… Yet, when “insiders” who do have a...

With only three days to go before the March 5 election, School Board candidates are hitting the pavement all over Los Angeles this weekend, hunting for votes. But judging from their campaign websites, some are more active than others. In downtown’s District 2, School Board President Monica Garcia is asking volunteers to sign up for...

Take a breather from all the campaign coverage to check out this much-discussed video from this week’s TED talks down in Long Beach: There’s also a a post about it from The Atlantic (Do Kids Really Need Teachers?).

Mailers, television ads, and phone banking have become increasingly negative the closer it’s gotten to the March 5 primary day. Click through the gallery below for a roundup of some of the lowest blows against the candidates in these contentious races:

How quickly we forget. For all the spending on this year’s School Board races —  which have already hit a record $3.8 million in outside expenditures — spending on the 2007 race was even higher at this point. Six years ago — the last time there was a showdown between UTLA and allies of Mayor...