Could low turnout impact state Assembly race?
By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, The Associated Press Friday, August 28, 2009 at 4:47 p.m. LOS ANGELES A suburban councilman has emerged as the favorite to capture a vacant state Assembly seat in a special election next week, but a projected low turnout and friction over gay marriage make the outcome harder to predict. The little-noticed election Tuesday in the heavily Democratic 51st District, which runs through part of Los Angeles and suburbs that include Culver City, Gardena, Hawthorne and Inglewood, will take place with residents distracted by the upcoming Labor Day holiday and the start of the school year. As a result, turnout could be in the single digits. Gardena Councilman Steven Bradford, a Democrat, holds a commanding edge in fundraising and has won most of the key endorsements, including from the state Democratic Party and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. To win outright Tuesday in the six-person contest, Bradford needs to clear 50 percent of the vote. But the low visibility
