Mayor Jim Hahn's re-election effort took another hit yesterday, as Rep. Maxine Waters threw her support behind Councilmember Antonio Villaraigosa.

As Hahn is learning, payback's a bitch. Rep. Waters has been waiting for just the right moment to reimburse him in full for his firing of former LAPD Chief Bernard Parks (which she perceived as a violation of the trust between Mayor McBland and the Black community), and with her ringing, devastatingly well-timed endorsement, she has.

Coming as it does just two days after the Los Angeles County Democratic Party announced it's backing of Villaraigosa, and accompanied by the big media splash that the charismatic Waters generates with ease, this could be the body blow that makes the Bland One the first Mayor bounced from office since Sam Yorty in 1973.  ¶ 11:41 AM