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When she decided last year to run for Los Angeles City Council against Council President Pat Russell, Ruth Galanter said many of her friends "told me to forget it. There was no point."
"Well, we did it," she defiantly told supporters in Venice Tuesday night, referring to forcing Russell into a June runoff. "And we'll win in June with your help."
Hours later, in her Venice home, Galanter, a longtime environmental activist, was beaten and repeatedly stabbed in the neck by an unknown assailant. She is in critical condition at UCLA Medical Center.
"She's such a positive, confident, optimistic person," said Galanter's friend Rubell Helgeson. "We've got to believe that scrapper quality will help her now."
Since she filed to run for office last fall, Galanter, 46, a political unknown until recently, tapped a growing anti-development sentiment and turned it into the foundation of her Los Angeles City Council candidacy.
Focused on Frustrations
In her campaigning, she focused on the frustrations of everyday life in Los Angeles-too many cars, too few parking places, too much smog, too many people-and gave them a name:...