ELECTIONS / L.A. CITY COUNCIL : Also-Rans May Still Play a Key Role : Politics: Although Goldberg and LaBonge emerged from 13th District primary, endorsements from candidates they vanquished could influence the June runoff.

In the battle to capture the 13th District seat that Los Angeles City Councilman Michael Woo is vacating to run for mayor, conventional wisdom says Jackie Goldberg has the edge.

An unabashed liberal who would become the council’s first openly gay member, Goldberg would appear a good political fit in a Hollywood-to-Northeast Los Angeles district that includes some of the city’s most progressive neighborhoods.

But there are signs that the June 8 runoff between Goldberg, 48, a former Los Angeles school board member, and the more conservative Tom LaBonge, 39, a longtime aide to Councilman John Ferraro, may be more difficult to script.

In a coup that caught the Goldberg camp off-guard, LaBonge garnered a key endorsement from Tom Riley, who finished third in the April primary. LaBonge earlier had picked up support from fifth-place finisher Virginia Johannessen.

And in another potential setback to the Goldberg campaign, fourth-place finisher Michael Weinstein, one of two other gay candidates in the primary, says he may remain neutral despite being courted heavily by both camps.

The news was not all bad for Goldberg; earlier this week she was endorsed by Conrado Terrazas, the third gay candidate in the primary. Terrazas, 37, got 5% of the vote and finished sixth.

The district stretches east from the heart of Hollywood along Sunset and Hollywood boulevards to Silver Lake, Echo Park, Atwater Village, Glassell Park and to the tip of Mt. Washington.

Although both Goldberg and LaBonge are Democrats, in some respects the race mirrors the mayoral contest between the liberal Woo--who is giving up the 13th District seat after eight years--and Republican Richard Riordan.

Goldberg, who has the backing of Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina and an array of other high-profile Democrats, expects to do well in liberal, ethnically diverse Hollywood, as well as among some of the district’s more significant voting blocs: gays and lesbians, union workers, teachers and low-income groups.

LaBonge has until now largely focused his campaign on areas of the district outside of Hollywood, where there are a large number of more conservative, Anglo homeowners who are also considered more likely to support Riordan for mayor.

Goldberg got 35% of the vote and LaBonge 31% in the primary. But with only 19,000 of the district’s 232,000 residents casting ballots, observers say the outcome of next month’s election may turn on the roughly 9,000 voters whose first choice was someone other than Goldberg and LaBonge.

“Right now,” said one observer, “if you look at who supports who (among the primary candidates), you’ve got an election that figures to be a squeaker.”

With some observers predicting a low voter turnout, endorsements from the primary also-rans are regarded with increased importance.

A former top aide to Democrat Barbara Boxer during her successful campaign for the U.S. Senate last year, Riley, 27, won 11% of the April vote. Weinstein, 40, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, had 9%. Johannessen, a businesswoman, had 7%.

Riley has assumed a key role with the LaBonge campaign, working full time to enlist support from those who voted for him during the primary.

“People are tired of city officials whose main concerns are global issues,” he said, echoing a frequent criticism of Goldberg. “They want someone to keep the potholes filled and work to make their communities safe.”

The LaBonge campaign, which is well-financed and has Ferraro as its chief political benefactor, has reacted gleefully to Riley and Johannessen joining its ranks.

“It’s just another indication that people with considerable support see Tom LaBonge as the best person to get the job done,” said Rick Taylor, a LaBonge consultant.

Johannessen, a Republican turned Democrat, had the endorsement of former county Supervisor Pete Schabarum and several other prominent Republicans during the primary. Observers see her support as one possible avenue of approach for LaBonge to tap into the 26% of voters in the district who voted for Riordan during the primary.

One Goldberg backer dismissed Johannessen’s support for LaBonge as “naivete.”

“She espouses change and reform and then she goes and endorses a candidate of the developers and City Hall lobbyists,” said Barbara Grover, a Goldberg campaign strategist.

Goldberg supporters, meanwhile, suggested that Riley’s joining up with the LaBonge camp was less a reflection of how he feels about Goldberg than bitterness toward Boxer, his former boss--who endorsed Goldberg during the primary.

For his part, Riley does not conceal his disappointment with Boxer.

“In working for (her) I got to know an awful lot of people,” he said. “And so what happens when I run for office? . . . All of a sudden I’m the dispensable white, straight male.”

Weinstein’s neutrality is widely perceived as a slap at Goldberg and poses another potential problem for her campaign.

During the primary, he openly criticized her record as a member of the school board. She responded by distributing a mailer in which Molina blasted Weinstein.

As with Riley’s endorsement of LaBonge, Goldberg campaign officials sought to put the best face on the Weinstein situation.

“We’re still hopeful that he will come around (and offer his support) but in the worst case we don’t think his neutrality will really hurt Jackie,” said Sharon DeLugach, co-manager of the Goldberg campaign.

Other Goldberg supporters are concerned that in a close election, anything that causes potential Goldberg voters to stay home could be perilous.

“We can’t have people sulking in their tents,” said Steve Martin, immediate past president of the predominantly gay Stonewall Democratic Club, which is supporting Goldberg. “This race could be a real squeaker.”

During the primary, Terrazas, Goldberg and Weinstein shared Stonewall’s endorsement.