LA mayor: 'We are better off'

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LOS ANGELES, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says the country is "better off" now than before President Barack Obama took office.

Speaking with CBS This Morning Monday, Villaraigosa said he believes he country is indeed better off.

"We are better off," Villaraigosa said. "We've had 29 consecutive months of growth -- 4.5 million jobs. In fact, more jobs in that time than the 8 years under [President George] Bush."

"If you look at how we got here, how we got into this deficit, we got into two wars we didn't pay for, [and] the Bush tax cuts took us here in great part," the mayor argued.

Villaraigosa, who is also the chair of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, which is set to begin Tuesday, said that "there are two clear choices ahead" in this election.

One choice is Republican nominee Mitt Romney, who would "continue the Bush policies," Villaraigosa said.

"I believe that the choice with President Obama, that invests in working people, invests in the middle class -- that moves us forward," he said.