Los Angeles teachers began a strike Monday that could imperil LA Mayor Eric Garcetti’s possible run for president. Garcetti, looking happier than he probably is this morning. Photo via Wikipedia. The Los Angeles Unified School District is the second-largest school district in the country. It serves approximately half a million students. Parents want a short strike. Taxpayers want few to no concessions. And unions want higher pay and at least some concessions. If not resolved on its own and quickly, it’s a political conundrum for Garcetti. According to The Hill, “In internal debates about how to build a campaign, Garcetti’s aides have acknowledged he cannot possibly launch a bid while teachers in his own city are on the picket line, according to sources involved in the conversations.” However, Garcetti has little control over how this plays out. The Los Angeles Unified School District is an independent body. It is accountable to…
As U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris launches her bid for President, new data shows she is the third most powerful politician on Twitter, besting both former President Barack Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi. According to data assembled by CrowdTangle, a social media analysis tool, and published by Axios Harris gets more retweets and likes than every politician and political news handle bar Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and President Donald Trump. That prominence in social media could be a huge advantage to Harris as she launches her presidential campaign. Social media presence correlates strongly with overall media coverage. Presidential campaign veterans view a candidate’s proportion of media coverage, or “media share” as arguably the most important metric in determining who will win a nomination, and a general election. According to Jeff Roe, former campaign manager for Sen. Ted Cruz during his presidential campaign run, the two most significant metrics are media share and small-dollar fundraising. U.S.…