Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has dropped out of the 2010 governor’s race, paving the way for a head-to-head showdown between state Attorney General Jerry Brown and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom for the Democratic Party nomination. Villaraigosa announced his decision today on CNN. It followed the release of a Los Angeles Times poll that gave him a lukewarm approval rating. Villaraigosa only got a 55 percent positive rating from Los Angeles-area voters amid that city’s economic struggles. In addition, Villaraigosa was only leading Brown 38 percent to 32 percent in the governor’s race. The Los Angeles mayor would have needed a much bigger lead than that in his home city to overcome Brown in the rest of the state.
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