Speaker's Odyssey: From L.A. Streets to Calif. Statehouse

By Robert C. Johnston

Sacramento, Calif.

Antonio R. Villaraigosa hardly fit the profile of a future political star when he was kicked out of high school as a junior for misbehaving one too many times. And things got bleaker when he dropped out after transferring to a new school.

The troubled Los Angeles youth, who was estranged from his father at the age of 5, may have given up on himself had it not been for the undying support of his mother, who admonished: "You're going to make it some day."

Were she still alive, it probably would not have surprised her, then, to see her son sharing the stage last week with Gov. Gray Davis of California as they touted the legislative feat of passing four major school reform bills in just over 60 days--a blink of the eye...