Parks unable to bring momentum to grass-roots effort.

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The Race For Mayor

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Parks unable to bring momentum to grass-roots effort.

BERNARD Parks' decision last spring to run for mayor of Los Angeles brought echoes of Tom Bradley.

Parks, like Bradley, rose up through the Police Department before entering public office. Parks rose to chief, was ousted and then reinvented himself on the Los Angeles City Council. But with four weeks to go before the March 8 primary, hopes are fading for those wanting to see him become L.A.'s second African-American mayor.

The campaign has been wracked by turnover and an inability to raise funds, and Parks has been unable to expand his support outside his South L.A. base, as Bradley was able to do 30 years ago.

"He's got great credentials, he's articulate, he's got so much ability and he knows this city better than anybody running for mayor," said L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, a close friend. "But with all these ingredients, he's been unable to gather any momentum, to put it all together."

While there's still time for his new grass-roots campaign to gel, Parks faces long odds against three bette...

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