If you were to give a shot of carb spray into the carb venturi- will the engine attempt to run?

Could you explain exactly what the carb venturi is? I sprayed carb cleaner through the holes that open into the bowl, and the spray came out through the tube that connects to the gas tank. After all that, the engine doesn't really try to start. I just pull the cord and the flywheel moves but it doesn't sound like the engine is trying to turn over at all.

Remove spark plug and pull to make sure all fuel in cylinder has been expelled; If fuel comes out wait for it to evaporate before next step; then Check for spark on the spark plug; With Spark Plug attached to the wire place it above the engine where you can see the spark pull to see if the spark plug has spark (Make sure its away from the spark plug hole); Note: you do NOT want a spark with fuel spraying out of the cylinder hole; potential fire; No spark then replace spark plug; if spark plug has spark then add small amount of fuel into carb at the filter; try to pull start it;

I tried the spark plug steps above, and even got a brand new plug -- attached it to the wire, grounded it to the engine block, and pulled the rip cord but no spark! I took the piece that the spark plug wire attaches to out, brushed away some of the rust and did the same thing on the flywheel, but still no spark from the plug. Any more thoughts?

If your model has a blade control handle did you have it engaged when you were turning it over?

Yes - tied down the bar to the handle and pulled the cord, no spark.

"spray came out through the tube that connects to the gas tank" Model # would be helpful. California model? No spark can be a defective zone cable (from the safety bail), safety switch or coil. Spark BTW is tough to see unless you have an assistant pull the cord.