Photo by VirtualEm via Flickr

Over at the LA Times, metro reporter Steve Hymon has a new beat -- traffic. "And so it begins. Every Monday in this space, I get to write about traffic, commuting and all sorts of related issues," he explains in today's column that replaces his usual city hall Q & A.

Today's topic is of quotidian importance to Los Angeles and timely relevance to tomorrow's Super Tuesday election:

You would think that something affecting millions of voting Americans would top the list of talking points for every one of the candidates. Yet most of those stumping for the nation's highest office have offered little more than platitudes: When it comes to transportation, they're basically for it. [LA Times]

Hymon finds that Obama and Clinton are pro mass transit and Mitt Romney and John McCain "have said little on the topic." Ron Paul likes homeschooling (therefore, less school commutes) and Mike Huckabee is talking about the I-95 in New Jersey (that's useful).

This all sounds very vague, especially when the candidates are focused in on California, where four of the twelve nation's busiest freeway intersections are (specifically, all four are here in Southern California). The candidates keep on talking economy. Well economic activity equals more commute trips and unfortunately, until some federal funding comes our way, those commute trips are going be done by the usual suspect in this city, cars.