Via Patterico, Via LA Observed.

Revenue is down big time at the Los Angeles Times, and desperate times call for desperate measures. Here you go:

Amid a steep decline in revenue, the Los Angeles Times is planning to break with long-standing tradition by selling ads on its front page, Publisher David Hiller said Friday (7/13/07).

When it happens, the newspaper will be the largest metropolitan paper in the country to place ads there.

I absolutely love Patterico's response to the news:

The paper already runs ads for Democrats on the front page. They might as well get paid for it.

Bingo! Absolutely right on. (We've reported about the Times' front-page, hot-n-heavy love for the Democrats here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, for example.)

(Also: "Publisher's memo to Times staff," 7/13/07. 2nd Q: "[C]ash flow down a whopping 27%, making it one of the worst quarters ever experienced." Hiller notes that the WSJ carries front-page ads.)