Mayoral Race Narrows - Garcetti and Greuel Compete for Hollywood

The Race for Los Angeles' next mayor increasingly seems to have become a battle between Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti. They have yet to really go after one another - certainly no real attack ads - but one of their more public power struggles seems to be shaping up over Hollywood.
Patrick Range McDonald recently wrote about this battle for the stars in LA Weekly:
http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2013/01/wendy_greuel_mayor_race_fund_raiser_celebrity.php

Much of the article describes how neither candidate has a clear edge and that both have vied for the attention of celebrities with signature Hollywood events. Its certainly shaping up to be quite a fight for an area in which both candidates have roots and expect to succeed. Garcetti has worked around Hollywood for over a decade and of course Greuel has a background with Dreamworks. But there is something more facinating about these candidates struggle for celebrity support, McDonald states;
"In 2008, it was clear that the cool kids lined up with then-presidential candidate Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton. This time around for the mayor's race, it's tough to say who has the inside edge on those folks.
But the other mayoral candidates -- Jan Perry, Kevin James, and Emanuel Pleitez -- don't come close to the kind of star power that Greuel and Garcetti have gathered."
Celebrity endorsements (though perhaps always helpful) seem to have become a prerequisite in politics - especially in Los Angeles. The debate is out as to how helpful they truly are at gaining votes (I don't think anyone at the RNC will be calling up Clint Eastwood anytime soon), but they have become an indication of who the frontrunners are. This especially true for the Democratic party.
Greuel and Garcetti could both use the votes that the physical area of Hollywood can provide and the votes that can be garnered by celebrity endorsements. Here's Salma Hayek explaining what a renaissance man Eric Garcetti is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0V4jGCpzUk
Maybe people will vote for Garcettis because of this ad, but I also think these celebrity endorsements are a show of power. Ever since Obama gained so much support from celebrities - far more than Clinton, McCain, or Romney - we have come to gauge who the frontrunner is based on who Hollywood tells us it is. We may not vote the way Salma Hayek tells us to, but this race is narrowing to two people. And whether or not Greuel and Garcetti need celebrity support, they are making a show of spending the money and time to gain the endorsements and celebrity approval that the city of Los Angeles and the Democratic party have come to covet.