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Photo by Matt Graves, HispanicBusiness.com
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced today that he will not run in the 2010 election for governor of California, saying he wants to devote his energy to cleaning up a financial mess at city hall instead.
Villaraigosa, the state's first Hispanic governor since 1872, made his announcement in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
His departure leaves just two other potential big names in the race thus far: state Attorney General Jerry Brown, who has yet to officially announce his candidacy, and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who is officially in the running.
Ironically, of the three men it is Newsom whose public-approval ratings are lowest. The Los Angeles Times reported that a March Field Poll showed that, without U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein in the contest, Brown had the most support among the voters, with 25 percent, followed by Villaraigosa, with 22 percent and Newsom with 18 percent.
(Last year Feinstein told the San Francisco Chronicle she was considering a bid, but some pundits say it won't happen.)
Meanwhile, the city of Los Angeles just decided to lay off 1,200 city employees in an effort to close a $530 million budget gap in 2009-2010.
Villaraigosa, 56, is set to be sworn in for his next term on July 1.