Why It's Much Better To Have Zuma Dogg's Support In An Election Than It Is To Have Him HAMMERING AWAY At You (Ask Some Who Have Been Hammered)

THIS KNOCKS ME OUT: Someone sent me a "tweet" on Twitter and I sent a reply. So THIS popped up in a Google search for my name:

"Zuma Dogg tweeted me back. This is the greatest thing to happen in my life ever. That and Van Nuys Civic Center and the San Diego Sports Arena."

I wish she could have left it at that and not have to lump me in the Civic Center and Sports Arena, but at least they are multi-million dollar municipal facilities. ZUMA DOGG: A one-man, walking municipal facility!

Yes, it's been a good week for quotes that I love so much, because I am so bitter:

"You are an artist and a civic treasure." - Unsolicited email from voter

"There has to be an end to this oligarchy. We are close to having no rights. And we need to find a way for ZD to earn a living and still have time to harass them. He has brought awareness to the city processes like nobody else. I must take the time to tell him." - Elaine (Mary Benson supporter)

"Zuma Dogg, who is smarter than and knows more about city government than most Council members, has become something of an urban folk hero, skewering City Hall foibles and failures in his frequent public comment appearances broadcast on Channel 35. His campaigns for mayor and now CD2 attracted respectable numbers of votes for a candidate who not only is penniless but homeless." - Ron Kaye

"David Saltsburg, best known as Zuma Dogg, the sometimes-homeless City Hall provocateur, is no amateur. He actually does understand how City Hall works and catches the Los Angeles City Council at bad behavior. It's a big job for a guy without a permanent address, to watchdog a richly paid City Council best known for its bumbling." - LA Weekly

"Zuma Dogg has done a lot of good for the people of Los Angeles. He's a good man." - Dennis Zine

"Local legend, Zuma Dogg speaks the truth. He's been fighting for you for years." - Doug McIntyre/KABC radio

"Zuma Dogg understands City Hall. Zuma Dogg is passionate. It would be great to have the tenacity and bravery of Zuma Dogg in the horseshoe." - Kevin James/KRLA radio

"Zuma Dogg is not only one of the most recognizable figures at City Hall, cordially greeted by passersby, including security guards and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, he also has the ear of high-level insiders, who feed him information in the hope that he’ll expose, and possibly stop, one questionable government project or another. In his first years on the scene, he was quietly derided by insiders, including a gaggle of journalists who attend council meetings. His persistence, and now, even critics must admit, his growing expertise on city policy and city government, have changed all that. Masked avenger: Once derided, Zuma Dogg earned respect on public access TV." - LA WEEKLY

YES, I may have tanked in the election myself, because everyone who liked me backed either their long-time community members or one of The Big 3 (to beat one of the other Big 3), but I think a lot of the people who supported other candidates, and are thinking of who to select between the two, don't mind knowing what I am thinking, just like a "Siskle & Ebert" movie review (who gets the thumbs up and who gets the thumbs down). And the reason people care what I think is because they have been FORCED to follow me over the past three years on TV 35, radio and blogs...and let's just face it people...ZD is bigger as a public advocate blogger/gadfly than translates into a council election.

I still did well, relatively speaking, because I didn't do a damn thing besides attend the candidate forums. I mean, I didn't pass out a flier, I didn't go to one farmers market or mall to work the crowd and meet voters. I didn't go to one NC meeting. I just did what I have been doing anyway, as an activist (calling radio and council meetings), but I didn't do a thing.

So I was about parody with the people who lived there and worked on the NCs and had signs and robo calls and ran all over the place and worked the whole community, and pushed so hard.

So my mere name on the ballot alone, puts me mid-pack. BUT, the real thing the spin-losers forget to tell people is that many of the people who supported Tamar, Paul and Chris -- really actually like ZD and know I'm not easy to sell and people know I go to great lengths to come up with my feelings and decisions.

SO REGARDING CHRIS VS PAUL...ALTHOUGH I WAS HOPING TO BE BITTER AND SAY, "NOPE! I put ZD on the ballot because I thought ZD was the best and far better than the other 9, and it was either, "Pick me, or live with any of the other inferior losers," luckily, I'm not as big of a baby as I thought I was, or figured I would be and things just played out the way they did and we have a result.

AND TO BE HONEST: It does kind of sicken me that I am supporting the candidate with the most money who just breezed in with mailers and I'm the homeless guy who is already hungry thinking about the next hour, and I'm going into "Zuma" mode over this, and I know Chris and her supporters are happy...but I can't be a crybaby and stay out of it for the wrong "sour grapes" reasons, because there is someone else on the ballot, too.

So don't be fooled, spin-losers: The reason why Zuma Dogg being able to like a candidate in this election is the BEST endorsement is because I don't think there is anyone that MORE people like, second, who voted for someone else. I don't think there is ANYONE ELSE in the city or district that reaches more Tamar, Paul, Mary and other candidate supporters, at once.

I had a lot of people apologizing to me for supporting others, while thanking me and telling me what a good job I'm doing out there and hoping I continue at City Hall. (See quotes above.)

So whether ZD just swayed the election, or didn't even budge the meter, I think it probably feels a lot better having ZD say nice things about you because he felt like it in this situation, than to be hammering away at you. I know Paul probably isn't ready to concede the election, yet. But it probably would have been more fun to have ZD hammering away the other person, instead of supporting them, and hammering away at YOU.

And again, I have decided I like Chris and am supporting her and am hoping for the best...but the reason this came out fast, is because there is NO WAY I WOULD EVER BE ABLE TO SUPPORT PAUL. But that's just me. And I ended up liking Chris, so why wait?

HERE'S A VIDEO TO CELEBRATE THE GRASS ROOTS LOVE!