<http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mayor25jan25,0,1065821.story?coll=la-home-headlines>http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mayor25jan25,0,1065821.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Villaraigosa unveils poverty proposals on national stage
By Duke Helfand Times Staff Writer
3:09 PM PST, January 24, 2007
WASHINGTON Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa stepped on a national political stage today and called for ending urban poverty by focusing significant federal spending on universal preschool, subsidized college savings accounts and other measures to lift the poor into the middle class.
Villaraigosa unveiled the proposals during a speech at the National Press Club, where he foreshadowed a report he and other big city mayors will release Thursday outlining a plan for the federal government to spend at least $44 billion to eradicate poverty and for additional investments by state and local governments.
"There is no clearer predictor of economic success, no more powerful weapon against poverty, than educational attainment," Villaraigosa told the press club.
The speech and the new anti-poverty campaign Villaraigosa is leading on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Mayors is also part of a carefully orchestrated drive to build his profile outside Southern California and position himself among the emerging field of Democratic Party up-and-comers.
The mayor's three-day swing through Washington is also meant to cast himself as a serious national player and prove his loyalty to the kingmakers of his party -- efforts that will come in handy if he decides to run for governor of California in four years.
Villaraigosa is at the top of a short list of prominent Latino elected officials across the country who are being watched closely by party elders. He is, in the words of national Democratic leaders, a fresh face emerging at a time when tectonic demographic shifts are compelling Democrats to look to Western states that used to be out of the party's reach.
Villaraigosa's election 18 months ago "represents the growing political force of Latinos in California and across the nation," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said. "He is a rising star in the Democratic Party."
The week's events are only serving to heighten the buzz around a relative newcomer to Washington.
On Tuesday, the mayor attended the president's State of the Union address as a guest of Pelosi. He is scheduled to have dinner tonight with New York Sen. Hilary Rodham Clinton. And he has been asked by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to give the Democrat's weekly radio address Saturday morning.
Villaraigosa's rise in Democratic circles depends on things going well back home. Mayors have to deliver services, and Villaraigosa has made big promises -- to put 1,000 more police on the streets, to fix the city's chronically troubled schools and solve an intractable homeless problem.
And he continues to fend off questions about his political aspirations. During a question-and-answer session after his speech, press club President Jerry Zremski asked Villaraigosa a question on behalf of one of the journalists in the audience.
"Is this your timetable: mayor today, governor 2010, president when?"
Villaraigosa fired back his reply:
"Mayor today, mayor tomorrow, mayor the next day. Thank you very much."