Four years ago, Antonio Villaraigosa seemed to come out of nowhere to reach within a whisker of being elected L.A. mayor. His campaign more resembled a movement than a traditional political operation as he rode a tide of endorsements and amassed tens of thousands of followers. Even the election night party seemed more like a celebration of Los Angeles than the admission of defeat after a bitter contest.

Now, as the 52-year-old former Assembly speaker-turned-city councilman nears the final stretch of his second try for mayor, even his closest friends and allies say the magic is missing. The crowds are smaller, the endorsements fewer, and – most of all – the candidate lacks the charm that so captivated Angelenos four years ago.

“There just doesn’t seem to be the spark that he once had,” said L.A. County Supervisor Gloria Molina, one of Villaraigosa’s political mentors and friends.

In recent weeks, he has suffered a series of specific setbacks, losing the two biggest endorsements he had last time: the County Federation of Labor (which has endorsed Mayor James Hahn) and the County Democratic Party, which voted last week to remain neutral. And his performances in the first two mayoral debates have been considered lackluster.

Villaraigosa insists he is very much in the hunt. Though he entered the race late, he is better known this time around, has raised $1.7 million and remains the leading contender to make it into the runoff with Hahn.

He also says this race is different, that the focus now is on Hahn’s record and the ethical difficulties confronting the mayor’s administration. And, he said, last-minute attack ads like those Hahn used in the last campaign – ads that helped derail Villaraigosa’s first run – won’t have the same effect now. “Trying to demonize me a second time won’t work,” he said.

Charismatic figure

Even so, Villaraigosa still appears to be searching for the right formula. Indeed, it’s been state Sen. Richard Alarcòn who has exhibited the rhetorical passion that Villaraigosa had in previous elections.

“Last time, he thought that enthusiasm alone would win it for him. Now he has to come to grips with developing a winning strategy,” said Maria Elena Durazo, head of the Unite/HERE Local 11 union of hotel and restaurant employees.

Durazo, who is married to County Federation of Labor chief Miguel Contreras, has known Villaraigosa nearly 20 years, ever since his days as an organizer for United Teachers Los Angeles.

Back then, Durazo said, Villaraigosa was a “magnet” to people. “He had this infectious enthusiasm; the moment he entered the room, it would just pull you in,” she remembered.

Even as a 10-year-old on an elementary school playground in Boyle Heights, young Tony Villar (his current name is a “merger” with wife Corina’s maiden name) “always stood up for the littlest kid on the playground who was being bullied by someone else,” said childhood friend Pete Navarro, who is now an attorney on L.A.’s Eastside.

Again and again, friends and associates described this trait of caring for the underdog – whether it was as a Chicano activist 30 years ago, organizing L.A. Unified School District teachers for a strike in the late 1980s or even as Assembly Speaker in the late 1990s.