Villaraigosa Lost the Election in Chatsworth, Northridge

If LA was just the Northwest Valley (you know, the 12th district neighborhoods (PDF map) including Chatsworth, Porter Ranch, Northridge and Granada Hills) Mayor Villaraigosa would have lost the primary election to runner up candidate Walter Moore, found the LA Times in an analysis of preliminary election results. Villaraigosa won the election outright after getting just 55% of the vote. With 5% less, he would have been in a runoff with Moore. Despite that, he told CNN the he "won overwhelmingly."

And although he "deflected" questions about a run for governor in that CNN interview, former state senator Tom Hayden says we should let Villaraigosa run--it's in his DNA afterall:

Some say he first should do the job he was elected to do. They don't understand his DNA or that of most power politicians. Villaraigosa is not a policy wonk; instead, he looks for good ideas that he can market as sound bites, such as "greening L.A." or "subway to the sea." Like any Machiavellian, his mission is to expand power for himself and for the forces he has chosen to represent -- Latinos and labor foremost -- while also cultivating an image as pro-growth, pro-business and pro-police.

Speaking to that, Rick Orlov at the Daily News notes the mayor's new sense of timeliness. "Demonstrating how humbled he was by the results of his re-election last week, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa showed up on time for two news conferences. Now, no one believes that will last long. But it indicates the 2010 governor's race is on Villaraigosa's mind and he knows his national image at stake."