for overall economic recovery. a magnitude 4.4 earthquake shook los angeles during the predawn hours today. it rippled just east of the city jolting people awake and snarling the early morning commute. a ten-foot stretch of concrete on crowded interstate 5 buckled, backing up traffic for miles. it s unclear if the quake caused that damage. crews repatched the roadway and it opened an hour later. i much prefer waking up to an alarm clock. i m with you. deb, stand by. in the run-up to the midyear elections, there s a powerful california democrat, barbara boxer, on shaky ground right now. what s happening in california? antonio villaraigosa is walking in right now. we ll assess what s going on in the world of politics right after this.
it seems much lower. i wonder if that works in barbara boxer s favor? i think it does. and i do think that californians understand how important health care is. i authored the healthy families act which about 950,000 kids have health care in california as a result. and there s still too many children and families that go without health care in california. and i think that s why a majority of californians do support this plan. do you there s a lot of talk today in washington about this unorthodox procedure democrats are thinking of using to get health care reform passed. is it okay with you if they do it any way? i used to be speaker of the california state assembly and i certainly understand that rules are sometimes used in a way to move legislation. i hope that whatever happens that there will be a vote. i think it is important that people stand up and say that health care s a right, not a privilege, that we can disagree on the details but that we ought to pass this health car
upcoming elections. their warnings are being heard a long way from washington. time for our america votes 2010 segment. joining us here in the situation room, the mayor of los angeles, democrat antonio villaraigosa. and joining us in the questi questioning gloria borger and david gergen. welcome to washington. good to be here. barbara boxer, she s the incumbent. up for re-election. can the republicans do in california what they did in massachusetts and get a republican elected to the senate? i don t think so. i can tell you i ve been supporting barbara boxer since the early 1990s. she s a tough campaigner. she works hard for california. she s working hard for los angeles as we speak on a 30/10 plan to create jobs. i suspect she ll have a tough campaign but she ll ultimately prevail. hi. can you sort of fill in the blank for me since you re here in washington and we re all in the middle of this health reform debate. if the democrats don t get
dirty vote. i want to come back to mayor, but how close tom campbell, one of the three republicans, a former congressman, how close he s come to her in some of the polls. former republican congressman, very popular, widely respected. does he have a real chance of pulling off an upset there? he s actually a friend of mine. i served in the legislature with him. he s a friend of mine, too. i don t believe that he can beat barbara boxer. i think she represents the values, the issues, the priorities of our state in a much better way. she s been a great senator for the state of california. i think the people will re-elect her. you have to make some tough choices as the mayor of los angeles. the budget is in trouble. the whole budget in california is supposedly near bankruptcy right now. as you try and make these choices, education, the notion of, you know, four-day school