THE BUZZ: The fate of the campaign to recall Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón now rests on signature quality. Foes of the progressive prosecutor yesterday turned in a stack of petitions from antagonistic Angelenos. It will be a close qualification contest. The anti-Gascón camp needs about 567,000 valid signatures and turned in about 717,000 total, which would mean they need about 79 percent to pass muster. That’s a high but by no means insurmountable bar. It’s also roughly prevailing rate from recalls targeting Gov. Gavin Newsom (who survived) and former San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin (who did not). That symmetry with Boudin is apt given the parallels between the two left-leaning DA’s. They were elected about a year apart and instantly became national leaders in a broader movement toward lighter sentences and tougher police accountability. They both faced recall attempts from the outset. More recently, Gascón fundraised for Boudin in an email explicitly warning of “a test for our national movement to end mass incarceration.” For as much ink and verbiage was expended analyzing Boudin’s fall, Gascón failing to complete a full term would be more consequential — mainly because Los Angeles is orders of magnitude larger than San Francisco. The blue bastion contains a quarter of the state’s population, making it the largest law enforcement jurisdiction in California and the second-largest in the United States. Its voters have recently hit reverse on stringent criminal penalties that inflated California’s prison population, including by electing Gascón in 2020 as elected officials abandoned then-D.A. Jackie Lacey en masse. But rebounding public safety concerns have put Gascón in peril. His tenure has coincided with rising violent crime and shocking cases like the killing of Jacqueline Avant and train robberies leading Newsom to make a comparison to “a third world country.” Gascón’s deputy attorneys revolted, overwhelmingly endorsing a recall and successfully suing to stymie some of Gascón’s sweeping sentencing reductions. One of those policies came under intense scrutiny after Gascón tried as a juvenile a woman who was arrested at 26 on charges of sexually assaulting a child. Anothermay have led to a cop-killer getting released earlier. Tucker Carlson devoted aspecial to Gascón. The recall has also become a public safety litmus test. L.A. Mayoral candidate Rick Caruso kicked in $50,000 as he ran a public-order-focused campaign (Republican benefactors Gerald Marcil and Geoffrey Palmer , law enforcement groups and real estate players supplied about half of the $4 million raised through March). Republican Attorney General candidate Nathan Hochman was on hand for yesterday’s signature submission and has essentially run against Boudin and Gascón, seeking to link Attorney General Rob Bonta to the “let ‘em go guys.” Los Angeles Sheriff Alex Villanueva backed an earlier attempt that fizzled for want of signatures. Los Angeles progressives are flexing their muscles after a strong primary showing. Caruso finished seven points behind Rep. Karen Bass, Villanueva secured just 31 percent of the vote and left-wing candidates fared better than expected. Even as San Francisco voters repudiated Boudin, voters around California sent a moremixed signal on criminal justice. What does that mean for Gascón? We’ll find out in the weeks ahead. Depending on the signature-counting process, this could go before voters in the November general, an early 2023 special election, or not at all. Even the final option likely won’t mean an end to the furor. “Even if this one does not pass,” anti-recall representative Jamarah Hayner predicted, “there will be five more recall attempts.” BUENOS DÍAS, good Thursday morning. While Newsom was catching flak yesterday for taking his family to visit relatives in state-travel-prohibited Montana, ‘tis also the season for lawmaker travel — sometimes on outside groups’ dimes. If you know of a trip we might be interested in, get in touch. Got a tip or story idea for California Playbook? Hit us up: jwhite@politico.com and lkorte@politico.com or follow us on Twitter @JeremyBWhite and @Lara_Korte. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “There is nothing but problems on the project. The inspector general provides oversight and some sense of what is going on with management. That has been missing for a long time.” Speaker Anthony Rendon on securing a new High-Speed Rail watchdog, via CalMatters. TWEET OF THE DAY: WaPo reporter Philip Bump @pbump on the conviction of artist Nipsey Hussle’s killer, who has a famous name: “it’s not that eric holder” WHERE’S GAVIN? Out of state ( apparently in Montana) with his family, leaving Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis in charge. | 
