Transportation seems to many to be the most obvious spot for Villaraigosa. | REUTERS Cabinet rumors about Villaraigosa

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is closely following the most important rule for a potential Cabinet member: Don’t pine after the job.

But the man with the top job in the nation’s second-largest city admits that he, too, hears the secretary rumblings and rumors.


“I’ve heard commerce … transportation,” he said. “The other day, someone congratulated me that I got appointed. I said, ‘There’s not a job opening, man!’”

( PHOTOS: President Obama's second-term Cabinet)

A Cabinet job or a post with the Democratic National Committee would just be the next step in the mayor’s meteoric rise. In fewer than 20 years, he has gone from the California Assembly to a national player. Though he’s flattered to see his name among the contenders to replace Ray LaHood at the Department of Transportation or Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz with the DNC, he said he learned long ago to keep his head down and do his work.

“It’s always nice to be talked about, but my only focus right now is finishing my job. And I want to finish it strong,” Villaraigosa, 59, told POLITICO on Monday during an interview on the top floor of the Center for American Progress headquarters in downtown Washington. “They asked me to be chair of the [Democratic] convention; I was president of the Conference of Mayors; I was co-chair for President [Barack] Obama for one reason: I’m mayor of L.A. My focus has to be my job. The best way to ensure a bright future is to make sure you’re doing your job that you have now.”

It wasn’t long after Villaraigosa joined the state assembly that he became part of the party’s leadership, which started his narrative as a rising star. Several years later when the California papers started throwing around his name as a speaker possibility with others, “all of them except me said, ‘Yeah, I’m thinking about running for speaker,’” he recalled.

“And I said: ‘Let me find the bathrooms first. And after I find the bathrooms, I’ll think about what we’re doing going into the future.’ So that’s what we’re doing now,” the mayor said of the recent Cabinet stirrings.

For those keeping score, he won the speaker’s gavel.

With LaHood’s future up in the air and Villaraigosa’s pedigree as a leader in the transportation sector due to his unprecedented rail expansion in the nation’s car capital, the Department of Transportation seems to many Washington observers the most obvious landing spot for the term-limited mayor. Villaraigosa also has expressed an interest in the state’s governorship, but that election is two years away. California’s Senate seats are occupied by the popular Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, who show no signs of slowing down.

Los Angeles will elect a new mayor in 2013, and Villaraigosa’s path may soon wind inside the Beltway — an area he says would benefit from bringing in more mayors who often come with a results-oriented approach and less ideological baggage. Washington is a place Villaraigosa knows extraordinarily well for a West Coast mayor. He endured criticism back home for flying into Washington 17 times to champion the passage of a new transportation bill, but he says those lobbying efforts led directly to money for projects back home. He also is proud of long relationships with California’s congressional delegation, especially House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. “We’re like this,” Villaraigosa said of the House’s top Democrat, twisting his fingers together. With that sort of résumé, many think the White House will soon come calling for the mayor to work in the administration — if it hasn’t happened already.

“The short answer is they have not talked to me about it yet,” Villaraigosa said.

LaHood said last week he needs to sit down with Obama to discuss his future. Many speculate LaHood, who has been a key messaging figure for the administration on jobs and the economy, will step down unless Obama insists otherwise. If the job opens up, L.A.’s mayor is well-positioned to replace LaHood: He’s comfortable working Congress, is a telegenic speaker and shares much of the president’s progressive policy positions.

Villaraigosa calls LaHood, the former GOP congressman, “one of the best Cabinet secretaries.”

“I love him because he’s smart, and he gets it, and he knows how to work both sides. He’s got credibility,” he said.

While speculation swirls around his future, Villaraigosa is focusing on his ambitious plan to build 30 years’ worth of transportation infrastructure in Los Angeles in 10 years and improve air quality, public safety and education in his hometown of nearly 4 million people.

“I’m not thinking about any of these other opportunities. The best way for me has always been focus on your job. Don’t look so far down the line that you trip on yourself,” he said as the interview wrapped up, and he got ready for another Washington lunch amid a packed schedule.

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Antonio Villaraigosa