Former Virginia governor L. Douglas Wilder said today he will not endorse Democrat Creigh Deeds in the race for governor. Wilder held separate meetings with both candidates earlier this week.

"The requests, made of me, have been to endorse Mr. Deeds, the Democratic Candidate, for Governor," Wilder wrote today in a released statement. "I refrain from doing so and will leave that choice to the voters."

Wilder, a strong supporter of gun control, said he disagreed with Deeds's pledge to repeal the one-gun-a-month law currently on the Virginia books.

"This action would allow the truck loads of guns to come back in exchange for drugs from those Northeastern states where gun laws are more stringent. This law was put on the books by Democrats and Republicans because they had seen where those guns go to in our cities and suburban areas where the violence occurs," he wrote. "I do not see how endorsing a proposal to have more handguns brought into our cities and suburban areas qualifies as any type of urban renewal plan."

An endorsement from Wilder, the first African American governor in the country, is the most sought after among statewide candidates of both parties. He's been an independent since serving four years as a Democratic governor in the early 1990s. He also served four years as mayor of Richmond earlier this decade, and teaches a political science course (which this reporter took) at Virginia Commonwealth University.