KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: I’m California Dreaming About Karen Bass Losing Her Job. “The wild card in the Los Angeles mayoral race is the unmitigated awfulness of Karen Bass. It’s nigh on impossible to put lipstick on the pig that is her legacy as mayor. Pratt has the money to keep attacking Bass for the duration. He may very well be able to inspire a flood of independent voters to propel him to victory. He’s so good at staying on message that some Democrats could shed their blinders. His potential path to a win is loaded with ifs, but the fact that he’s in the conversation at all is miraculous.”