RACIST DRUG IMAGE ATTACK ADS WIN LA ELECTION, IS NY NEXT?

Bill Clinton's Pardongate party has claimed its first victim, Los
Angeles mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa, and the fallout could
spread to New York's mayoral race.

Why? Because a TV attack ad that many Latinos saw as racist helped
beat Villaraigosa, and ad-makers Bill Carrick and Hank Morris also
work for New York mayoral candidate Alan Hevesi.

Democrat Villaraigosa was a rising Latino star who led the race for
mayor until the revelation that he wrote Clinton years ago to seek a
pardon for convicted cocaine dealer Carlos Vignali.

Bingo! Trailing contender James Hahn aired a slashing TV ad that
showed a razor blade cutting cocaine, then someone smoking a crack
pipe, then a grainy, unflattering photo of Villaraigosa.

Critics said the ad was as ugly as the notorious, racially charged
"Willie Horton" ad used to boost George W. Bush's dad against Michael
Dukakis in 1988. Villaraigosa said his son, 12, got teased that his
dad dealt drugs.

The Los Angeles Times said the commercial appealed "to the public's
basest fears." La Opinion, a leading Spanish-language newspaper,
called it "ugly and racist." But it helped Hahn win by eight points on
Tuesday.

"I think the evidence is very clear that, absent the Vignali ad,
Villaraigosa would have won," said his pollster, Mark Mellman (who's
working for Mark Green in New York).

Now the question is whether Hevesi's rivals will make the ad an issue
in New York. Hospital workers union chief Dennis Rivera, who uses
Morris-Carrick for union work, already is getting pressure to ditch
them.

"Dennis' phone is ringing off the hook," a source says. "He's getting
calls from absolutely livid Latino leaders asking how he can be
associated with people who did a 'Willie Horton' ad? It's absolutely
the worst stereotyping of anybody Latino."