Dancing with Antonio

The Downtown News' Jon Regardie saw some news in Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa repeating to Charlie Rose the company line that will he run next year for a second term. In this week's paper, Regardie has some fun with imagining the press conference the mayor might have held to take — and dodge — questions about his plans from local reporters. The Dancing Antonio is by Doug Davis, who also has a cartoon in the issue depicting Controller Laura Chick in a wrestling ring about to club Councilman Tony Cardenas with a chair.

Heh heh: Regardie includes a little dig at the inexperience of reporters the Times often sends out to cover stuff these days. In the scenario, Villaraigosa is surprised he doesn't recognize the representative of the LAT: "Thank you Mayor; I'm an intern. All the other City Hall reporters either were hired away by The New York Times or took the buyout, and I'm senior on the staff."