THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE:

It all started the morning after the election of President Barack Obama.

Let’s just say it wasn’t among Rep. John Campbell’s best days. His party took a thrashing at the hands of angry voters who pink-slipped scores of his colleagues.

Since then he’s put away his razor and has been rockin’ the rugged look.

“Hey, I’ve had facial hair for half my life,” Campbell said, chuckling as he talked about his beard to reporters in his D.C. office Monday.

“I decided I’m going to keep it for at least a year,” he added. “And my wife likes it so...”

He wasn’t done. The suddenly comedic congressman was on a roll.

“I needed to shake things up, you know, give myself an edge,” he said.

Election day might have been a disaster for his party, but at least he won by a decisive margin, Campbell said.

Not bad, considering Obama carried Campbell’s district.

VAN TRAN PONDERS STATE SENATE IN 2012

Assemblyman Van Tran could have his eyes on Sen. Tom Harman’s District 35 seat in 2012.

Garden Grove Republican Tran has filed a Statement of Intention for the 35th District seat, the first step toward running for office.

“Its early, but I’ve been encouraged to run and have received a lot of support for my constituents,” Tran said.

The assemblyman noted that 2012 is going to be an interesting election cycle because of redistricting.

Harman is ineligible to seek another term in the California Senate due to term limits, but he filed papers last month to explore a run for attorney general in 2010.

Some have speculated Tran would challenge incumbent Sen. Lou Correa for his District 34 Senate seat in 2010, but he hasn’t filed a Statement of Intention or formed a campaign committee for the seat.

Tran also could have a go at U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez’s congressional seat in 2010. Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) has filed Statement of Intention papers to explore a run for governor.

“I’ve been encouraged, if not cajoled by supporters to run for that seat for last 10 years,” Tran said. “I will do what’s best for Orange County.”

Tran said he is encouraged by the fact that 25% of voters from his assembly district also overlap with Sanchez’s District 47.

Until recently, Van Tran was the highest-ranking Vietnamese American elected official in the United States.

U.S. Rep. Joseph Cao (R-La.) became the first Vietnamese American in Congress when he was sworn into office earlier this month.

Both Tran and Cao left Vietnam as children aboard U.S. military transport airplanes just before the fall of Saigon.

COUNCIL MEETING RUNS INTO EARLY MORNING

Even before he knew what was to come, Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor said it best in the first minute of Tuesday night’s marathon council meeting: “I guess it’s just going to be one of those nights.”

And it was. After starting half an hour late because of closed-door discussions that ran over time, the meeting lasted six full hours, finally wrapping up well after midnight.

In the past few years Costa Mesa’s council meetings have been notoriously long compared with neighboring Newport Beach, but Tuesday’s — which actually lasted almost an hour into Wednesday — was lengthy even by Costa Mesa standards. It adjourned at 12:40 a.m.

According to archived meeting minutes, you have to go back to 2007 to find a meeting that lasted longer.

So what was the big issue this time? A large, new commercial development? A controversial immigration law? No.

There was the consent calendar — a collection of decidedly uncontroversial items voted on in a single motion — that took more than an hour.

There were two noise/quality-of-life disputes between neighbors, a formal measure to block streets for the Orange County Marathon, a review of a few proposed stop signs on the Eastside and appointments of new planning commissioners.

The stars aligned and each of the routine debates drew public comments and protracted discussions among council members. By the end of the meeting there were exasperated sighs and curt exchanges as tempers ran high.

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com. PAUL ANDERSON is the city editor for the Daily Pilot. He may be reached at (714) 966-4633 or at paul.anderson@latimes.com. ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.