Villaraigosa not running *

Kevin Roderick • June 22 2009 1:16 PM

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa blows off locals and goes to CNN's Wolf Blitzer for his announcement a minute ago that he will not run for governor. Good call, though it makes the coming election season a little less interesting, mercenarily speaking. Meanwhile, the CNN anchor who was on before 1 p.m. still stumbled over his name after all these years: Villa-eye-gosa.

"I can't leave this city in the middle of a crisis," Villaraigosa tells Blitzer. "I've been making up my mind for a long time." He calls what is going on in Sacramento "an abomination....the system is broken." He cites daughter Natalia Fe being 16 and still in high school as part of his reason not to run.

Noted: Someone who was there remembers Villaraigosa as Blitzer's guest at the recent White House Correspondents Association dinner.

* Mayor's girlfriend tweets at 2:11 p.m.:

@LuParker "Fortune favors the brave." Virgil (70 BC - 19 BC), Aeneid

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