See, we told you Antonio Villaraigosa was a good Democrat. Despite a faux pas reported by the New Yorker magazine in which our mayor is said to have given his personal phone number to a billionaire enemy of the Obama campaign, Villaraigosa is earning his stripes with the White House.

What many described as lackluster performance by Obama at last night's presidential debate was an opportunity for Villaraigosa to step up to the commander-in-chief's defense:

The San Francisco Chronicle's Carla Marinucci spotted Villaraigosa after the debate in Denver last night. She writes:

Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa was one of the few brave Dems to brave the University of Denver spin room after Wednesday's big presidential debate — clearly an off night for President Barack Obama.

When asked what happened to Obama — Marinucci says “he wasn't on his game tonight” — Villaraigosa says, “I've heard that question,” and adds, of Romney:

He speaks well but does he say anything? He didn't detail his tax plan.

He certainly was aggressive at interrupting the moderator. He was chipper, no question about it. But I think once again he Etch-A-Sketch'd is way out of this debate when he misrepresented the president's position on Medicare …

He speaks well. The question is does he say anything.

Funny. We thought only black guys could be eloquent in this country. Romney has been such a stuffed suit during this election season that a few quasi-passionate jabs mean he suddenly speaks well.

We doubt the mayor's comments are going to skew this first bout for the Dems. But they might score him a few points within his own party.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

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