Stanford Law Prof. Lawrence Lessig announced on his blog today that he would not run for the House of Representatives seat vacated by the death of Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.).

Just five days ago, Lessig launched an Internet frenzy by posting a video on his blog announcing that he was considering a Congressional run. This time, a more somber video explained that defeating former state senator Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) in the campaign would be nearly impossible.

In his video, Lessig said that it would be a challenge to convince voters “to vote for me instead of a person who has spent 30 years of her life in extraordinary public service.”

Winning votes in a district that had never heard of him and never heard his message would be too difficult, Lessig said, especially in a compressed 30-day campaign leading up to the Apr. 8 special election.

Lessig was blunt about his chances of defeating Speier, saying in his video that there was “no possible way” he would succeed against the most popular politician in the area.

The professor, however, remained optimistic that his efforts to change Congress would succeed. He said that he was humbled and inspired by the outpouring of support for his campaign.

Ultimately, Lessig decided that losing big in the first step of his Change Congress crusade would do more harm than good to his movement.

“We need to recognize that changing Congress is the hardest political challenge we as a nation face,” Lessig said in the video. “It’s not something that can happen overnight. It’s not something that can happen in even 30 days.”