Capitol Alert

Two lawmakers are looking to give nation's most populous state more sway in presidential campaigns, pushing legislation to sign on to an effort that would replace the electoral college system with a national popular vote.

Assembly Bill 459 is part of a nationwide push for states to approve the "National Popular Vote bill." States that enact the bill agree to award all of their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the overall popular vote. Supporters say the change would force candidates to look beyond a handful of "swing states" in their campaigns, spending resources and time throughout the country.

"Swing states will be a thing of the past," said Assemblyman Jerry Hill, a co-author of the bill. "Candidates will actually focus on getting votes from people everywhere, just not particular votes in a particular state."

Assemblyman Brian Nestande, R-Palm Desert, said the current system has made California "totally irrelevant" in the national political arena.

"We're basically on our own. As the largest state in the union I think it's important our voices are heard," said Nestande, who argued that national candidate visits boost visibility for state and federal candidates as well as voter morale.

They said 2008 presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain made zero California campaign trips in the general election, aside from stops solely aimed at refueling campaign coffers. It would be harder, they said, to pass up millions of California votes.

"California is ignored in most general presidential elections," Hill said. "Candidates do not come to California to campaign. Candidates do not run television advertisements in California, they do not send direct mail, make phone calls or conduct field operations here, but they sure do a lot of fund raising here."

Assemblywoman Cathleen Galgiani has announced that she will run for secretary of state in 2014, according to her Facebook page and local news reports.

The Livingston Democrat is serving her third and final term representing the 17th Assembly District, which covers Merced County and parts of San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties.

"I want to stay in public service. My focus in this next position would be to do what every department and agency needs to do, and that's find ways to do more with less money by streamlining and creating efficiencies," Galgiani told the Stockton Record.

Current Secretary of State Debra Bowen, also a Democrat, will be termed out of office in 2014. Bowen is also a candidate for a vacant congressional seat in Los Angeles County. If she wins, Gov. Jerry Brown will appoint a successor to fill the remainder of her term.

Galgiani has filed paperwork declaring her intention to run for the post, but has yet to open a formal committee to raise cash for a bid, secretary of state records show.

PHOTO CREDIT: Cathleen Galgiani, D-Stockton, casts her vote on the budget cuts portion of the Democratic budget plan during the Assembly floor session, Tuesday Dec. 16, 2008. Brian Baer, Sacramento Bee.

The secretary of state's office has gotten its cash back from the web vendor hosting the crash-plagued statewide election results site on Tuesday.

The vendor, Rackspace Hosting, issued a mea culpa on Wednesday.

"Officials in the California Secretary of State's office called Rackspace well before the election and asked what measures would be needed to handle the spike in website traffic that they expected on Election Day. We have the equipment and experience to handle such traffic spikes, and told them so. But we did not comprehend the extremely high volume of traffic that was expected, and we failed to deploy the appropriate resources," the company said in a statement, posted here.

Rackspace also offered to refund the secretary of state for its services, a bill that amounted to $1,000.

Much to the dismay of campaigns, journalists and voters across the state, the official statewide election results site was down for much of election night. The results site crashed shortly before 8 p.m -- before polls even closed -- and was soon replaced with a less flashy back-up page with a pdf of the results. Even that fail safe site failed to withstand the high traffic at points in the night.

"The international popularity of the secretary of state site, combined with a national phenomenon of higher than ever before traffic, restricted access to other election sites across the country. It overwhelmed the unlimited capacity that our office was promised," said Shannan Velayas, spokeswoman for Secretary of State Debra Bowen.

This wasn't the first time high traffic has torpedoed the results page on election night. Bowen decided to shift the results page to off-site "cloud hosting" servers after issues during the 2008 general election. She has since praised the move for saving costs and increasing traffic capacity. Velayas said Rackspace has hosted the results site for two previous statewide elections -- the June 2008 primary and the May 2009 special election -- without problems.

RELATED: See complete election results at SacBee.com

This post was updated with additional information at 4:13 p.m..

In a sea of negative ads over the final campaign week, here's one with a positive message.

Several students from Mount San Jacinto College in Riverside County won a statewide contest this month with a 30-second clip encouraging fellow young Californians to vote Tuesday. The ad features a student complaining about how he can't afford gas, how his classes were cut and how he did not receive financial aid. As the kicker, another student asks whether he voted.

The Mount San Jacinto College students won over 10 other entries from California community college multimedia students, taking home $500. The League of Women Voters, Foundation for California Community Colleges and Student Senate for California Community Colleges sponsored the contest.

"Civic engagement has been taken out of the high school curriculum, and that's true for colleges and universities as well," said Leslie Smith, an associate vice chancellor at the City College of San Francisco, who helped organize the contest. "We've made a real effort to reach out to students at community colleges, many of whom come from populations that have been disenfranchised and don't turn out to vote."

The ad has been running on the California Channel and on a League of Women Voters website so far; Smith said organizers also have asked cable networks to run the spot.

This post was originally published Oct. 21

Think you're a pro at knowing the ins and outs of California politics?

Test your mental might in Capitol Alert's latest Election Quiz.

The stakes are high -- a $50 gift card to a coffee shop of your choice and the bragging rights of being a Capitol Alert winner.

How to play: Read the questions listed after the jump and send your answers to tvanoot@sacbee.com by 11:59 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29. The best way to submit your answers is by copying the questions into an e-mail and writing your answer below each question.

In the case of a tie, the winner will be determined by our tie-breaker questions. Read the contest rules here. Good luck!

Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman continued wooing the state's nurses Tuesday by sending more than 100,000 of them a four-page letter highlighting her support for nurse staffing ratios and inviting them to join a campaign advisory board of nurses that will consult the candidate on nursing issues.

As her campaign has been doing for weeks, the letter also slams the California Nurses Association as a partisan group that's misusing member dues on political activity.

"For them partisan politics comes first," the letter reads. "That's why they've already spent almost $1.5 million of your dues money on partisan politics, to help only one party (without asking the members I might add.)."

Whitman has already sent other literature to nurses' homes criticizing the CNA's leadership and trumpeting her support for the staffing ratios. Since the primary campaign, the CNA has dispatched dozens of protesters to Whitman events.

Last month, the CNA invited Whitman to address nurses at a public forum to be held Thursday near the candidate's home in Atherton. Although Whitman declined the invitation, the nurses are still expected to rally there.

Photo: CNA Co-President Geri Jenkins rallies against GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman in Oakland on June 25, 2010. (Hector Amezcua/Sacramento Bee)

UPDATE: CNA Executive Director Rose Anne DeMoro has responded to Whitman's letter, saying the union's members support its political activities.

"Every penny that we've spent to educate the public of why they should be fearful of a Whitman governorship is a penny well spent," DeMoro said. "We're a very transparent organization."

About Whitman going around the union and mailing letters directly to nurses, DeMoro said, "What she's doing is underestimating the intelligence of the registered nurses. Even if they weren't paying attention, all of a sudden, they're against her now."

The independent expenditure committee California Working Families for Jerry Brown for Governor 2010 is running a third ad attacking GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman.

This one depicts Whitman as an aloof wealthy former CEO of the online auction firm eBay and accuses her of seeking tax breaks for the state's wealthiest people.

Past ads run by the group have highlighted Whitman's poor voting record and her participating in IPO spinning, in which she was allowed to buy stocks before the general public could.

The committee is funded largely by money from labor unions and is headed by Democratic strategists such as Roger Salazar.

Whitman spokeswoman Sarah Pompei responded this morning:

"Governor Brown's ideology of more taxes, more spending, and more regulations is the real enemy of middle-class Californians. Jerry Brown Incorporated is a political conglomerate of unions and special interests determined to defend Sacramento's status quo and launch misleading attack ads against Meg. Jerry Brown Inc. is learning that voters know Meg Whitman is the only chance for middle-class Californians to get meaningful tax relief, accountability in Sacramento and the jobs our state desperately needs. Meg's plan eliminates the start-up tax for middle-class entrepreneurs and the capital gains tax for smaller investors, and it provides a new tax credit for middle-class homebuyers. What is Jerry Brown offering? Nothing."

The rhetorical battle between Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman and the California Nurses Association raged on today with the union inviting the candidate to meet its membership in at least one solo forum without the attendance of her Democratic rival Jerry Brown.

The Whitman campaign had not yet responded this afternoon but was expected to do so shortly.

According to a news release, the forum would be set up at a time convenient for Whitman and feature unscripted audience questions to be moderated by nonpartisan journalists.

While the state Republican and Democratic parties have opposed the voter-approved open primary measure Proposition 14, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown expressed support Tuesday for the idea, saying it could help break partisan gridlock paralyzing Sacramento.

When asked by The Bee in March about the initiative, Brown refused to take a position.

Brown was in Mountain View on Tuesday to announce an eight-point plan for investing in renewable energy technology, which he says will create more than half a million green jobs. He opened his remarks to the Silicon Valley Leadership Group by lamenting polarizing partisan politics. He then segued into Proposition 14, which would advance the primary's top two vote-getters to the general election, regardless of their party affiliations.

The state Democratic ticket made its first joint appearance Thursday morning at the Solaria solar panel plant in Fremont, where gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown said his party's ticket represented much-needed frugality and authenticity compared to the Republicans' free-spending ways.

Brown also laid out more details about how he would balance the state's budget, such as starting the budget process before January every year and taking budget proposals to the ballot.

If anything, Brown showed Thursday why he's one of the most quotable people in state politics, speaking at a quick patter and shooting out a thick mix of attacks, jokes and data. Whitman, by contrast, stays closely to talking points when talking to crowds and the media.

"The governor is one person, the Legislature is the other, you've got to bring us all together in a very deliberative process," Brown said to dozens of media and white-jacketed company employees. "We'll cut everything we can."

Brown spent much of the morning repeating his challenge to Republican rival Meg Whitman to debate, dismissing her criticisms that he hadn't released enough policy details yet. Whitman has said she's done just that by putting out a 48-page policy booklet.

Brown's take? "She doesn't have a plan," he said. "She has a pamphlet, and most of it is pictures."

The state Democrats debuted their statewide ticket Thursday at the Solaria solar panel plant in Fremont. Attending were gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown, Lt. Gov. hopeful Gavin Newsom, Attorney General nominee Kamala Harris, Treasurer candidate Bill Lockyer, Insurance Commissioner candidate Dave Jones, state Controller nominee John Chiang and Secretary of State candidate Debra Bowen.

The camera was rolling Wednesday morning when Carly Fiorina made some small talk she might come to regret. Watch her comment on, among other things, Barbara Boxer's hairstyle.

Watch the video, originally on Sacramento's KXTV Channel 10, below.

The road to Congress has just gotten easier for former Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles.

Bass, who is considered a shoo-in to succeed Rep. Diane Watson, won 85 percent of the vote in Tuesday's primary, easily beating three challengers in California's safely Democratic 33rd Congressional District, where African American and Latino voters predominate.

Watson, a 76-year-old Democrat, has announced her retirement at the end of the term.

Bass will face Republican attorney James L. Andion in the Nov. 2 general election.

"The campaign is not over, and neither are the challenges we face in our communities, our state, and our country," the assemblywoman said in a statement.

Old vs. new. Public sector vs. private. Three-term Democratic U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer vs. Republican U.S. Senate nominee Carly Fiorina.

Fiorina, the former CEO of tech giant Hewlett-Packard, was pushing California voters to make those connections Wednesday as she launched her general election campaign at a state GOP victory rally held at the Hilton hotel in Anaheim.

Fiorina also answered Boxer's debate challenge, made just hours after Fiorina was declared the winner last night, by saying with some bravado, "Barbara, I'll debate you anytime anywhere. As far as I'm concerned, we can debate once a week."

The Republican, however, made one debate demand, that they schedule one meeting in Mendota in the Central Valley, "where unemployment is skyrocketing because the federal government has decided that families don't need water."

Throughout her victory rally speech, Fiorina said she, GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman and other statewide candidates were fresh faces from the private sector while Boxer and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown were career politicians.

"The contrast could not be more clear," Fiorina told the audience. "I know and this team knows that the government does not create new jobs."

Newly minted Republican gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman sidestepped Democratic rival Jerry Brown's invitation this morning to participate in 10 town halls, saying he should release more policy details before debating.

Whitman also argued that she had spent her money well in the primary. Her campaign burned through about $90 million -- including $71 million of her own wealth -- to win 1.1 million votes, at a price of roughly $90 per vote.

As she did throughout the primary, Whitman mostly stayed on script during her news conference, which followed a rambunctious GOP victory rally held in the Hilton hotel in Anaheim showcasing the party's statewide candidates. Whitman's speech at the rally largely echoed the speech she gave last night at her election night party, where she again talked about her three focuses of cutting government spending, fixing education and creating jobs.

"There will be plenty of debates," Whitman said about Brown's challenge when asked about it by a reporter. "What I would say to Jerry Brown is instead of calling for debates, he should lay out his plan for California. You know, his Web site has virtually nothing on it. I would call for Jerry Brown to lay out his plan for California, so we'll at least have something to debate about."

Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco lost his post to Riverside Superior Court Judge Paul Zellerbach in yesterday's primary.

Zellerbach beat Pacheco, who had served just one term, 52.8 percent to 47.2 percent.

Alert readers recognize Pacheco as the Riverside assemblyman who served a very brief stint as Republican leader in 1998.

Here's how the Riverside Press-Enterprise described the dynamic in the race:

"Pacheco pilloried Zellerbach as a wayward, soft-on-crime judge who had been publicly admonished by the Commission on Judicial Performance. The Pacheco media blitz also went after Zellerbach's supporters.

Pacheco touted his injunctions against gangs and his corruption probe of San Jacinto which led to the indictment of nine people, including four San Jacinto City Council members.

But voters agreed with Zellerbach's portrayal of Pacheco as an abrasive manager who drove experienced prosecutors from his office, used gamesmanship with the county on budget matters, and clogged the courts with unneeded trials of cases that should have been settled."

Longtime Sacramento Supervisor Roger Dickinson is leading Sacramento City Councilman Kevin McCarty by 33 votes in the Democratic primary in the 9th Assembly District.

But more than 30,000 ballots still need to be counted before a winner is declared, elections officials said today.

Alice Jarboe, assistant to the Sacramento registrar of voters, said officials have processed 25,000 yet-to-be counted absentee ballots that were turned in on Election Day, with "lots and lots" more still in the envelope. In addition to 4,000 provisional ballots that also need to be counted, Jarboe said staff still has to check several thousand ballots marred by extra pen marks, tears or "too much coffee and jam."

"For our county, if something is very close, we will be scrutinizing the counting of that contest," Jarboe said.

An energized state Republican party launched the general election campaign this morning at a victory rally at the Hilton hotel in Anaheim. The theme of the day and perhaps of the campaign: The GOP nominees represent new blood while the Democratic ticket is dominated by career politicians.

Without a doubt, the GOP ticket is its most diverse in years in ethnicity and gender. It's led by two women -- gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman and U.S. Senate nominee Carly Fiorina; a Latino -- Lt. Gov. nominee Abel Maldonado; and an African American -- Secretary of State nominee Damon Dunn.

Fiorina drove home the theme, saying, "This election is about the future, not the past, not the tired old politics from a bunch of kind of tired old career politicians." She was referring to Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jerry Brown and U.S. Senate incumbent Barbara Boxer.

Tuesday's election was definitely a mixed bag for the Strickland family. While state Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Moorpark, easily captured the GOP nomination for state controller, his wife's bid for a seat on the Ventura County Board of Supervisors fell way short.

Audra Strickland, who succeeded her husband in the Assembly but is being forced out of the Legislature by term limits, wanted to run for Ventura treasurer-tax collector but was thwarted when county supervisors rewrote specifications for the office, making her ineligible. She then decided to challenge Supervisor Linda Parks but Parks captured nearly two-thirds of the vote.

Tony Strickland faces an uphill battle as the Republican nominee for state controller since he's dueling with Democratic incumbent John Chiang and incumbents in down-ballot statewide races are almost never defeated -- especially Democratic incumbents in a state with a strong Democratic registration margin.

The good news for the Strickland family is that even if Strickland loses his bid for controller, he was just elected to the Senate in 2008, so he won't be termed out until 2016. And of course his wife could then run for his Senate seat.

Newly minted Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jerry Brown greeted a media throng in Los Angeles, seemingly amazed by the new attention for his generational encore run to be California's next governor.

"I haven't seen this many microphones for a long time," said the attorney general and former governor.

And then Brown, who was last governor from 1975 to 1983, declared he has both the wisdom and contemporary know-how to lead California out of deep fiscal crisis and a severe public lack of confidence in state government.

"I've been there, standing in the face of a storm," he said as he pledged to lead the state in tackling "very painful choices that lay ahead of us."

He also challenged Republican nominee and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman to participate, and field media questions, in 10 joint town hall experiences around California.

"Let's go to the people of California and have an unscripted exchange about the issues we face," Brown said.

He suggested that the town halls should replace -- or at least augment -- the "relentless TV commercials" that Whitman has unleashed.

"If she's serious about dealing with the Legislature and dealing with the problems, she ought to deal with me," Brown said.

Voters rejected two business-backed measures that would have changed the electric power and auto insurance industries in California.

With all precincts statewide reporting, PG&E-backed Proposition 16 was failing with 52.5 percent no votes. No votes on Proposition 17, sponsored by Mercury Insurance, accounted for 52.1 percent of the total.

Proponents of the measures were still holding out hope, with thousands of absentee ballots yet to be counted.

Shannan Velayas, a spokeswoman with the secretary of state's office, said the number of absentee ballots varies from county to county, so the state does not now know how many are out there. She said it's in the "tens of thousands." Counties have until July 9 to report final absentee totals.

Opponents of Propositions 16 and 17 said they were confident, given the numbers. Out of about 3.85 million votes cast, Proposition 16 trailed today by about 185,000 votes. Proposition 17 was failing by about 156,000 votes.

Local school district, special district, city and county voters approved three-fourths of the 60 tax and bond measures placed before them in Tuesday's election, according to a post-election compilation released by the League of California Cities.

Eleven of the 13 majority vote tax proposals passed, as did 21 of 27 special taxes and 15 of 20 school district bond issues. Overall 44 of the 60 local finance measures were approved.

The city organization also announced that Eastvale, a community in Riverside County, voted to become California's 481st incorporated city, and that voters in Vallejo, which declared bankruptcy, repealed that city's law requiring binding arbitration in contract disputes with city unions.

The full report on local election results, compiled by Davis-based CaliforniaCityFinance.com, is available here.

Money couldn't buy Chris Kelly love, apparently.

The former Facebook officer invested more than $12 million of personal funds in his bid to woo voters, yet he finished a distant second Tuesday in the Democratic primary for attorney general.

Put simply, Kelly spent $47 for every vote his campaign produced, nearly seven times as much as the winner, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, who spent about $6.87 per vote.

Harris beat Kelly by a margin of more than 2-to-1, capturing 33.1 percent of the vote compared to Kelly's 15.9 percent. Four other candidates split the remaining votes, garnering percentages ranging from 14.9 for Assemblyman Alberto Torrico to 5.6 for attorney Mike Schmier.

Harris' campaign war chest totaled $3.8 million while Kelly raised $12.5 million, nearly all of it from his own pockets.

All precincts had been counted Wednesday morning, but numerous provisional and absentee ballots remained.

Protesters including teacher Elaine Burn, playing Queen Meg, rallied this morning outside the Hilton hotel in Anaheim, where the state Republican Party is holding its victory breakfast. The organizers include the Orange County Labor Federation and the California Nurses Association.

Joining Queen Meg, a spin on Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, is Princess Carly, a send-up of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina.

Some of yesterday's nail-biter primary contests could remain in flux for weeks.

Most counties have now posted results from all precincts, but those tallies don't include provisional and damaged ballots or absentee ballots turned in on Election Day.

Shannan Velayas, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State Debra Bowen, said counties still have tens of thousands of ballots to count before final results can be certified.

Counties must report their full results to the Secretary of State by July 9. Results will be certified by July 16.

Turnout so far is just under 25 percent -- which would set a new low for voter turnout in a gubernatorial primary. Four years ago, slightly more than one-third of registered voters cast ballots.

The 2010 turnout figure will increase slightly once remaining ballots are counted -- but it still is expected to set a record low.

As we reported last night, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom bested Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn for the Democratic lieutenant governor nomination.

The race was widely portrayed as a turf battle between the Northern California and Southern California political power hitters. In this case, the NorCal candidate came out on top. The Hahn family's political legacy in Los Angeles County didn't do the candidate much good outside that region, as Newsom won all but six of California's 58 counties.

Here's a map of the results produced by the Secretary of State. See more maps of results here.

California voters did not impose any widespread backlash against longtime politicians in Tuesday's balloting for statewide offices.

Assemblyman Mike Villines was one exception, however.

Villines, R-Clovis, apparently lost Wednesday in the GOP primary for insurance chief against state attorney Brian FitzGerald, who ran a low-key campaign and never has held state office.

FitzGerald held a lead of roughly one percentage point with all precincts counted but numerous provisional and mail-in ballots remaining.

Villines was not an incumbent in the GOP primary for insurance chief, but he is a former leader of the Assembly Republican caucus who upset many conservatives by accepting a temporary tax hike to help close a massive budget gap in February 2009.

Other balloting Tuesday displayed no sign of anger at veteran politicians.

Political blogger Mickey Kaus' upstart challenge to U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer got a lot of media attention, including a piece in the august New York Times, but he didn't do particularly well in this week's primary election.

Boxer, of course, was renominated for a fourth term with more than 80 percent of the Democratic vote, and Kaus barely cracked 5 percent. But the news of the day is that Hollywood producer Brian Quintana, who didn't get any publicity, garnered nearly three times as many votes as Kaus.

Kaus, a long-time scribbler for the Slate website, was nonplussed by his third-place finish, posting a lengthy analysis on the Internet this morning that included this passage:

"I'm a blogger. I spent about $40,000. I had one part-time aide, a recent college grad who was prepping for his LSATs. We had no headquarters, no pollsters, no highly paid strategists and consultants. We had a couple of laptops and an old Volvo. And we still ripped off more than 100,000 votes from a three term incumbent because there is a large group of voters who are dissatisfied with the prevailing dogma of the Democratic party.

"I entered the race because I wanted to start up an argument among Democrats about the party's direction - about the need to say 'no' to the unions and to insist on securing the border before we even talk about amnesty."

When Bill Lockyer and Liz Figueroa served together as Alameda County's state senators in the 1990s, they were also, as the gossip columnists like to say, "an item."

Lockyer went on to become state treasurer and got married. By happenstance, his wife, Nadia, and Figueroa found themselves vying this year for a vacant seat on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors - and it became a nasty personal duel.

Treasurer Lockyer, who has a multimillion-dollar political war chest, shifted more than a half-million-dollars into his wife's campaign and it helped her emerge on top of a four-candidate field Tuesday with 38.06 percent of the supervisor district vote.

However, Figueroa came in second with 24.94 percent, shading Mark Green, and unless still-uncounted absentee votes push Green ahead of Figueroa in the final tally, she and Nadia Lockyer are headed for an even more pointed runoff duel in the fall.

Three days after his 20-year-old son was found dead, Don Wagner won the GOP nomination for an Orange County Assembly seat.

Wagner, a community college trustee, captured 32.3 percent of the vote. Steven S. Choi was a close second, 29.6 percent, followed by Jerry Amante, 24.0 percent; and Jay Ferguson, 14.1 percent.

All precincts had been counted in the 70th District Assembly race, but numerous provisional and walk-in mail had yet to be tallied Wednesday morning.

Wagner, if his lead holds up, will square off against Democrat Melissa Fox for the seat of termed-out Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, who ran unsuccessfully Tuesday in the GOP primary for U.S. senator. The 70th AD is one of the state's strongest Republican-dominated districts.

A community college trustee, Wagner's win came on the heels of Saturday's discovery that his son, Paul, had died unexpectedly in the latter's car. There was no sign of foul play.

Paul Wagner, who had been assisting his father's campaign, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder about 18 months ago and was taking medication for it, according to the Orange County Register, which reported that Don Wagner believes his son may have died as a result of the medication.

California's 53 gerrymandered congressional districts rarely see any primary election drama but two of them had at least a smidgeon this year.

Congresswoman Jane Harman was challenged - for the second time - by teacher and liberal activist Marcy Winograd in Southern California's coastal 36th Congressional District, a contest marked by sharp disagreements between two Jewish women over policy toward Israel and the Middle East.

Harman staved off Winograd's challenge, winning 58.8 percent of the Democratic vote on Tuesday, a little low for an incumbent, even though the latter attempted to make the bloody clash between Israeli troops and a pro-Palestinian armada of supply-carrying ships a late-blooming issue.

A couple of hundred miles to the north, Republican Congressman George Radanovich's decision to retire sparked a multicandidate contest among GOP politicians in the Fresno-centered 19th CD and state Sen. Jeff Denham was the survivor.

Denham, Radanovich's annointed successor, defeated former Fresno Mayor Jim Patterson, former Congressman Richard Pombo and Larry Westerlund, garnering more than 36 percent of the GOP vote. The district is solidly Republican so Denham shouldn't have a problem in the fall.

Meanwhile, Republican David Harmer, son of a former California lieutenant governor, defeated several foes to win the right to take on Democratic Congresman Jerry McNerney in the nearby 11th CD. McNerney ousted Pombo two years ago and the 11th CD could be one of the few genuinely competitive California congressional districts in the fall.

Some of the state's biggest races were called early last night, with Meg Whitman, securing the GOP gubernatorial nomination about 30 minutes after polls closed and Carly Fiorina following the with GOP Senate nod soon after.

But there were, as always, lots of close calls and several surprises as the returns trickled in from across the state late into the night. And, with absentee ballots turned in on election day still to be counted, some races are still in flux.

One candidate who likely didn't sleep soundly?

GOP Insurance Commissioner hopeful Mike Villines.

The Clovis Assemblyman was considered a safe bet for the Republican nod for insurance commissioner, but that race is shaping up to be one of the night's biggest upsets.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting, 53-year-old enforcement attorney Brian Fitgzerald leads Villines by about 11,200 votes.

The close margin could mean Republican voters are still rankled by Villines' vote on the 2009 budget package (you know, the one included new taxes, cost him his leadership post but won him a JFK Profiles in Courage Award), especially considering Fitzgerald, whom State Worker columnist Jon Ortiz profiled last week, spent less than $5,000 on his statewide campaign.

The winner, by the way, will face Democratic Assemblyman Dave Jones, who defeated rival Assemblyman Hector De La Torre for the Democratic nomination.

The battle to succeed Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell as the state's schools chief is headed for a runoff, but it's still to close to call which candidates will be on the November ballot.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting, school district superintendent Larry Aceves and AssemblymanTom Torlakson were the leading vote-getters, with 18.8 percent and 18 percent of the vote respectively.

State Sen. Gloria Romero is running a very close third in the statewide nonpartisan primary with 17.2 percent of the vote.

STATE LEGISLATIVE RACES: One of the tightest legislative contests with all precincts reporting is the Democratic primary in the 9th Assembly District.

Das Williams derailed Susan Jordan's bid to replace her husband, Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara, in the 35th Assembly Distirct.

Williams, a Santa Barbara city councilman and former legislative aide, defeated Jordan with 61.4% percent of the vote in the nasty Democratic primary battle.

Offshore drilling was a major issue in the environmentalist-heavy district. Jordan blasted Williams for his support of the Tranquillon Ridge proposal to allow oil drilling off the Santa Barbara coast, sending attack mailers that the Daily Sound described as featuring "oil-soaked dead birds and an exploding oil rig next to Williams' picture."

Williams fired back, slamming Jordan for attending a high-dollar international junket in mailers that reportedly included a photoshopped picture of Jordan with a drink in her hand.

While Jordan shares her husband's environmental bona fides, Williams' bid got support from the California Teachers Association and another Democrat who formerly held the seat: Hannah-Beth Jackson, his former boss.

Williams faces the Republican nominee, former Santa Barbara County Supervisor Mike Stoker, in the general election to represent the heavily Democratic distirct, which includes Santa Barbara and parts of Ventura County.

Nava, who is termed out, lost a six-way race for the Democratic attorney general nomination.

UPDATE 8:25 a.m.: With 100 percent precincts reporting, Salas is up 336 votes, 50.6 percent to 49.4 percent. Provisional, damanged and vote-by-mail ballots turned in on election day still need to be counted.

With 93 percent of precincts reporting, the brutal battle in the 40th Senate District Democratic primary is caught in a dead heat.

Assemblywoman Mary Salas currently leads her more moderate rival, former Assemblyman Juan Vargas, by 259 votes, 50.5 percent to 49.5 percent.

Salas, of Chula Vista, had the support of Democratic leaders in Sacramento, including Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, while Vargas received heavy backing from the insurance industry and business groups.

Vargas was boosted by $1.5 million in independent spending from the insurance and business industries. Outside groups spent about $900,000 to oppose Salas.

The two are sparring for the seat being vacated by termed-out Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheney, D-San Diego.

In another closely watched Democratic primary, party favorite Bob Wieckowski, a member of the Fremont City Council, leads Garrett Yee, a Ohlone College Trustee and employee of the Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau, by 4.4 percentage points with all precincts reporting.

Wieckowski leads 52.2- 47.8 percent.

Insurance industry committees contributed heavily to Yee, who has been registered as a Decline-to-State and Republican in the past. Committees funded by insurance groups also spent more than $300,000 in independent expenditures to support his bid.

Wieckowski, backed by labor and tribal gaming groups, won the endorsement of the seat's current member, termed-out Assemblyman Alberto Torrico, D-Fremont.

The November ballot will pit a fundraiser for a powerful Sacramento interest group against a political newcomer borne from the Tea Party in the Democratic 53rd Assembly District.

Betsy Butler beat out seven opponents to win the Democratic nod in Tuesday's primary, securing 26.7 percent of the vote with all precincts reporting.

Butler, who worked in the political arm of the Consumer Attorneys of California, which represents trial lawyers, was targeted with a more than $600,000 attack campaign from independent expenditures funded by insurance companies and other business interests.

James Lau, director of the California League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, trailed with 17.8 percent of the vote. He had been supported by independent expenditures from medical malpractice insurance and doctors' groups.

Butler will face Republican Nathan Mintz,a 26-year-old political newcomer active in the local Tea Party, and Green Party candidate Lisa Ann Green November in the race to replace termed-out Assemblyman Ted Lieu, D-Torrance. Mintz, an engineer, and Green ran unopposed in their primaries.

No surprises in Tuesday's two special run-off elections to fill legislative vacancies.

Assemblyman Bill Emmerson, R-Hemet, handily won the special election run-off in the 37th Senate District.

Emmerson defeated Democrat Justin Blake 56.5 percent to 32 percent.

The three-term assemblyman fills the seat vacated by former GOP Sen. John Benoit, who was appointed to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors last fall.

In the 43rd Assembly District, attorney Mike Gatto, a Democrat, pulled out a win over former Burbank Chamber of Commerce chairman Sunder Ramani, 59-41 percent.

Gatto fills the remaining six months of the final term of former Democratic Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, who stepped down to take a seat on the Los Angeles City Council.

That means Gatto and Ramani, both on the primary ballot, will face each other again in a November re-match.

The 43rd is a safe district for Democrats, but Gatto wasn't considered a sure bet in Tuesday's contest. Low turnout was expected to make the race close and and there were concerns (once for the primary and then again for the special run-off).

No candidate for California state superintendent captured enough votes Tuesday to win the job outright, but Larry Aceves narrowly beat Tom Torlakson and Gloria Romero in unofficial results Wednesday morning.

With all precincts counted but some provisional and mail-in ballots remaining, Aceves had 18.8 percent of the vote compared to Torlakson's 18.0 percent and Romero's 17.2 percent.

A November runoff is required when no candidate in the nonpartisan race wins 50 percent of the vote.

Aceves is a former school superintendent in the San Jose area, while his two closest opponents are Democrats and longtime legislators - Torlakson is a Pittsburg assemblyman and Romero a Los Angeles senator.

Campaigns for all three were waged largely by outside groups through independent expenditure committees.

Aceves was backed by the Association of California School Administrators, Torlakson by the California Teachers Association, and Romero by EdVoice, a nonprofit, pro-charter school group.

Nine other candidates ran for superintendent of public instruction, with none collecting more than 10 percent of the vote.

Not every candidate had to spend big bucks to secure a win in Tuesday's statewide primary.

A handful of candidates faced no opponents in their primary races, including Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez. State Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, previously pledged to run for a third and final term in the 46th Assembly District but pulled those plans and ran for a neighboring Assembly district when Pérez won the speakership battle.

Pérez, who was noninated in 2008 with the votes of less than 5 percent of registered voters in the 46th Assembly District, faces smooth sailing through November. No one ran in the Republican or minor party primaries to challenge the Assembly leader in November.

Assemblyman Mike Davis, D-Los Angeles, and Assemblyman Ed Hernandez, running for the 24th Senate District seat, also are shoo-ins come November. Both faced no challengers Tuesday and no opponents running from other parties.

By our count, 52 state legislative incumbents, including senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, and 31 congressional incumbents, faced no opposition in their party primaries.

Incumbents running unopposed for statewide office included Treasurer Bill Locker, Controller John Chiang and Secretary of State Debra Bowen, all Democrats.

IMAGE: Assembly Speaker John A. Perez looks toward the gallery after he was sworn in as speaker. He is accompanied by Governor Arnorld Scharzenegger and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento on March 1, 2010. CREDIT: Hector Amezcua/SacBee.

Score one for Team Florez.

Former Shafter City Councilmember Fran Florez defeated Kern County Supervisor Pete Parra 56 percent to 43 percent in Tuesday's Democratic primary in the 30th Assembly District.

This race was the latest battleground for the longstanding feud between the two Central Valley political clans, who have sparred publicly for years.

Florez, mother of state Sen. Dean Florez, lost a 2008 bid to replace Parra's daughter, termed-out Assemblywoman Nicole Parra. The blood is so bad between the two politically active families that the Nicole Parra, a Democrat, backed Republican Danny Gilmore's candidacy.

Gilmore, of Hanford, announced last year that he would not run for a second term, and Democrats are hoping to pick up the seat. Florez will face David Valadao, a Hanford dairy owner, in November.

Fresno Bee colleague E.J. Schultz has more on the AD30 race and other Central Valley legislative contests here.

Democrat Michael "Mickey" Harrington held a strong lead over rival Christina Billeci early this morning in Assembly District 3.

The winner of the Democratic primary will challenge GOP incumbent Dan Logue in the November contest for the seat.

With 183 of 374 precincts reporting, Harrington held 54 percent of the vote to Billeci's 46 percent.

California Democratic Party members backed Billeci, a Marysville City Council member, over Harrington, who lost to Logue in the November 2008 general election by more than 11 percentage points.

Logue, who was unopposed, reported spending $71,713, more than the two Democrats combined.

Republicans hold a nearly six-point registration advantage over Democrats among voters in the district.

Incumbent Jim Nielsen beat GOP rival Charlie Schaupp in their party's primary fight for Assembly District 2.

With 312 of 394 precincts reporting, Nielsen had 55 percent to Schaupp's 45 percent. There were no official Democratic candidates running in the primary in this safely Republican seat.

Nielsen, a state Senate Republican leader in the 1980s, and Schaupp, an Esparto farmer and retired Marine, last faced off two years ago, when Nielsen took 45 percent of the votes to Schaupp's 23 percent in a more crowded GOP primary.

This time, Schaupp hit the incumbent for taking per diem payments even though his home isn't far from the Capitol.

Republicans dominate Democrats among the district's voters, 46 percent to 31 percent.

Nielsen reported $130,020 in the bank as of May 22. Schaupp had about $2,348 cash on hand.

Incumbent Ted Gaines defeated GOP challenger Joseph C. Kammerer in early returns, and will face Democrat Dennis J. Campanale in November.

Gaines had 86 percent of the vote to Kammerer's 14 percent with 95 percent of the ballots counted.

Retired Roseville fire chief Campanale, Antelope manufacturing supervisor Kammerer and Sacramento grocery store manager Daniel D. Frederick all ran low-key campaigns, leaving Gaines to build up his war chest for the general election.

Only Gaines filed financial disclosures before the primary, reporting $330,307 in the bank late last month.

Republicans hold an advantage of more than 12 percentage points over Democrats among the district's voters.

Doug La Malfa beat GOP rival Rick Keene Tuesday in the 4th Senate District and will face Democrat Lathe Gill, a Crescent City lawyer, in the general election.

With 398 of 742 precincts reporting, La Malfa had garnered 59 percent of the vote to Keene's 41 percent.

The two former legislators, both termed out in 2008, battled for the chance to run in November for this safely Republican Senate seat, now held by termed-out Sen. Sam Aanestad, who was running for lieutenant governor.

Richvale rice farmer La Malfa, who represented Assembly District 2, and Chico businessman and lawyer Keene, who represented neighboring Assembly District 3, kept the campaign civil until a few weeks ago, when both anti-tax conservatives started sending out attack mailers.

By May 22, each had already spent well over $500,000 this year on his campaign. La Malfa drew the endorsement of GOP Rep. Wally Herger while Keene got the nod from GOP Rep. Tom McClintock.

Two years ago, both La Malfa and Herger backed former Rep. Doug Ose in his unsuccessful run against McClintock.

Sacramento physician Richard Pan has won the Democratic primary and Folsom attorney Andy Pugno the GOP nod in the 5th Assembly District.

With 91 percent of the vote counted, Pan's had 44 percent of the vote in the four-way Democratic contest. Pugno had 43 percent of the vote in a six-way Republican race.

The chance that Democrats could pick up the 5th Assembly District for the first time since 1978 drew big money from outside groups.

Pugno, who defended Proposition 8's ban on gay marriage as a member of its legal team, was among the better-known GOP candidates.

Among Democrats, Pan had the support of the California Medical Association.

Larry Miles, who is trailing Pan with 26 percent, was the target of smear mailers that appeared to be the work of deep-pocketed EdVoice, which advocates for charter schools.

Reserve military officer Loren Hanks won the GOP race to battle veteran Rep. Mike Thompson in his quest for a seventh term in the House.

Randy Franck, a farmer from Fortuna, ran a low-key campaign in this massive district that stretches from West Sacramento to the Oregon border. Hanks, 44, of Vacaville bills himself as more of a libertarian on social issues and supports "full legal rights for gay couples and gay unions." He raised only $25,000 - including $10,000 of his own funds.

Thompson has hoarded $1.5 million for the general election battle in a district in which voter registration skews Democratic, 47 percent to 26 percent.

Democratic incumbent Mariko Yamada and Republican political consultant Michelle P. Connor, unchallenged in their primaries, will face each other in November.

Yamada is seeking a second term in the district, where Democrats hold an advantage of nearly 21 percentage points over Republicans.

The incumbent lists AFSCME California, the California Association of Highway Patrolmen and the California Federation of Teachers among the groups endorsing her.

Connor, who lives in Vacaville, didn't file a financial disclosure form before the primary and had no endorsements or events listed on her campaign website.

Incumbent Joan Buchanan and GOP challenger Abram Wilson will face each other in November for the second time in the 15th Assembly District.

Buchanan beat Wilson in 2008 by six percentage points to succeed termed-out Republican Assemblyman Guy Houston in this oddly shaped district, which sprawls from Contra Costa County to Sacramento County's Galt and Elk Grove.

Democrats now hold a registration advantage of more than five points over Republicans, whose share of the district's voters has slipped eight points since 2002.

Buchanan has raised more in contributions since Jan. 1 than Wilson has - $272,471 to his $160,012. Neither candidate has accepted campaign spending limits.

The race is apt to focus on public money: Buchanan touts her co-authorship of a bipartisan bill that would require the state to adopt performance-based budgets, while the San Ramon mayor points to his fiscal record in his current elected office.

Abel Maldonado has won the Republican race for lieutenant governor, beating Sen. Sam Aanestad

The incumbent by virtue of appointment by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maldonado jumped to an early lead and never relinquished it. He had 46 percent of the votes with 48 percent of precincts statewide reporting. Aanestad garnered 29 percent.

Four other GOP hopefuls registered 8 percent or less.

Meanwhile, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom won the Democratic nomination with 55 percent of the vote to 33 percent for Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn.

In the GOP race, Aanestad tried to paint Maldonado, recently appointed to the post, as a tax raiser. In the Democratic race, Hahn banked on her famous name in Los Angeles, while Newsom drew from his prominence as mayor.

Disgruntled California voters have blown up their election system by approving Proposition 14, which tosses out the current political party-based primary system in all but presidential races.

With 48 percent of precincts statewide reported, the measure was ahead with 57 percent of voters in favor of it and 43 percent against.

Although results were not official, California's main and minor political parties were already talking about a strategy to file a lawsuit against Proposition 14, Cres Velluci, Green Party state press secretary, said late Tuesday night.

Backed strongly by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Proposition 14 calls for a new "open" primary, in which all candidates for an office - except those in presidential primaries - appear on a ballot given to voters regardless of party registration.

Under the system -- which Washington state has already adopted -- the top-two vote getters who emerge from a primary square off in a general election, even if they are from the same political party.

Former businesswoman Carly Fiorina won the GOP Senate nomination Tuesday night, the first time California Republicans have ever chosen a woman as a Senate nominee.

She will now attempt to knock off Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, a three-term incumbent, in November.

Fiorina, the former chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard, had 56 percent of the vote, with 45 percent of precincts reporting. Former Rep. Tom Campbell was second, with 24 percent, and Assemblyman Chuck DeVore was third, with 18 percent.

Fiorina addressed supporters in Anaheim, promising to run "a tireless, fearless campaign" against Boxer.

She called California "a state in great distress" and said that Californians "have had enough of a government that is out of control, out of touch and addresses every problem with more bureaucracy and more spending."

San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, leading a crowded pack of Democratic candidates, won her party's nomination for attorney general Tuesday evening.

On the Republican side, Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley beat attorney John Eastman with 41 percent of precincts reporting.

Farmer Gary Clift was leading retired pilot Buddy Burke in the GOP primary to face longtime officeholder, Democrat John Garamendi, in the fall in the 10th Congressional District.

With nearly two-thirds of the votes counted, Clift had 55 percent of the vote to Burke's 45 percent.

Campaign-weary voters in this East Bay district that stretches to southern Sacramento County selected a new congressman - Garamendi - just last November in a special election to replace longtime Democratic Rep. Ellen Tauscher. Clift, from Vacaville, was one of 14 candidates in the special election, finishing seventh with 3.9 percent of the vote and missing the runoff with Garamendi.

Burke, of Walnut Creek, sat out the special election. The race became wide open after the GOP nominee in the special election, David Harmer, migrated east to the 11th Congressional District for this election. Democrats outnumber Republicans 47 percent to 28 percent.

By Jack Chang
jchang@sacbee.com

Less than 18 months ago, Meg Whitman began her race for the governor's office as a political blank slate.

The 52-year-old had never held elected office before and wasn't connected to any cause. In fact, she had rarely voted in her adult life.

That didn't stop Whitman, the billionaire former CEO of online auction firm eBay, from vanquishing Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner on Tuesday night to win the Republican nomination for governor.

She and U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina made history by becoming the first women to win the California Republican Party's nomination to the state's highest elected offices.

She told supporters that Sacramento politicians now face their worst nightmare: "Two businesswomen who know how to create jobs, balance budgets and get things done."

Democrat Jerry Brown, who easily won his party's nomination for governor, reminded his backers that "I've done this before."

"If we pull together we can fix things," he said. "I know how Sacramento works, and more importantly, I know how it should work."

UPDATE 4:31 a.m.: Dickinson's lead has widened to 33 votes with all precincts reporting.

Only 21 votes are separating longtime Sacramento County Supervisor Roger Dickinson and Sacramento City Councilman Kevin McCarty late tonight in the Democratic primary fight for Assembly District 9.

With 250 of 302 precincts reporting, McCarty had garnered 6,928 votes, or 34.2%, while Dickinson had 6,907 votes, or 34.1% of the total.

Whoever winds up winning the Democratic nomination in the Sacramento County district will face Rick Redding, unopposed in the GOP primary, in the November election.

McCarty, Dickinson, Sacramento CIty Councilwoman Lauren Hammond, and labor leader Chris Garland disagreed little on the issues, leaving Democratic primary voters to choose based on the candidates' records and campaign tactics.

The California Faculty Association backed Garland, its political director, and underwrote hit pieces against McCarty.

Dickinson reported the most cash on hand on May 22 of the Democrats, $166,119. McCarty had $75,681 in the bank; Hammond, $29,227; and Garland, $17,819.

Democrats hold a 35-point registration advantage in the district.

Tuesday's balloting set up a fall rematch between incumbent Alyson Huber and GOP rival Jack Sieglock in the 10th Assembly District.

Huber and Sieglock's battle in November 2008 was so close that Sieglock attended freshman orientation before Huber won the contest by fewer than 500 votes.

Huber benefited from more than $1.3 million in "independent expenditures" by special interests during that campaign.

Democrats and Republicans have again targeted the seat in this district, where Democrats hold a slight advantage over Republicans among voters.

Huber, an El Dorado Hills lawyer, reported more than $145,000 cash on hand as of May 22. Sieglock, a former San Joaquin County supervisor, reported more than $180,000.

Neither candidate has accepted spending limits for the campaign.

Sieglock, who has signed the conservative "no new taxes" pledge, is sure to attack Huber for her budget votes on taxes.

UPDATE 4:57 a.m.: With 98 percent of precincts reporting, the measure is losing 52.6 percent to 47.4 percent.

Proposition 16, touted by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. as a voter-empowering measure but scorched by critics as a power grab by the utility, was being defeated by a narrow margin early this morning, with both sides saying the final result might not be known for days.

The seesaw content saw the measure getting 51 to 52 percent voter approval in early returns after the polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Shortly after 11:15 p.m., however, no votes edged into the majority.

With 9,730 precincts of 22,894, or 42.5 percent, reporting, no votes accounted for 51 percent of the total.

Becky Warren, a spokeswoman Yes on 16, said the outcome might not be determined for awhile, but added, "Right now, we're still positive and optimistic."

Richard Stapler, a spokesman for No on 16, agreed that vote totals might take days to sort out, but he was pleased that no votes had pulled ahead before midnight: "Things are definitely starting to break our way. If things stay like this, it's a victory for democracy and consumers."

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has defeated Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn Tuesday in the Democratic contest for lieutenant governor.

Hahn issued a concession statement shortly before 11 p.m., saying she will suppoprt Newsom in November.

"He has done some groundbreaking work as mayor of San Francisco and I know that he will bring that experience to Sacramento to shake things up," she said.

The victory balloons are still stirring on the floor at GOP gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman's primary night victory party, but the general election spin is already well under way.

Top Whitman advisor Rob Stutzman told The Bee the Democrats should be worried that their gubernatorial candidate, Jerry Brown, received only about 84 percent of the Democratic vote - at the latest counting - while facing no major opposition.

Another campaign staffer had sidled up to a Bee reporter and made the same observation about 15 minutes before. In other words, expect that to be the line of argument in the morning-after news releases from the Whitman campaign.

If current results hold, the Republican statewide ticket will be its most diverse ever, featuring two women - Whitman and U.S. Senate nominee Carly Fiorina; a Latino - Lt. Gov. nominee Abel Maldonado; and an African American, Damon Dunn, who's running for Secretary of State.

The Democrats, meanwhile, are offering two white males at the top of the ticket - Brown and Lt. Gov. nominee Gavin Newsom, as well as black female Attorney General nominee Kamala Harris and female Debra Bowen running for Secretary of State.

"It's an interesting contrast," Stutzman observed. "The diversity is on the Republican side. It's encouraging that leaders are coming from the private sector and women coming from the private sector."

When all's said and done, tonight's basement-low voter turnout could mean Whitman spent as much as $100 per vote. The Bee pointed that out to Stutzman, who argued the figure will be more in the $90 range and responded that the campaign was also investing in general election votes.

"We're also presenting to all the voters in this primary campaign," Stutzman said. "It's not just about dollars per vote tonight."

And then it was back to the campaign's line of argument: Brown's primary result.

"There are some problems there for him," Stutzman said. "He's not as secure with his base as he should be."

Photo: Republican gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman's victory party wraps up in Los Angeles on June 8, 2010. (Hector Amezcua/Sacramento Bee)

Political newcomer Damon Dunn has won the Republican primary, beating "birther" Orly Taitz. The former pro football player grabbed 75 percent of the vote from the outset and held steady through the night.

Taitz has 25 percent of the vote with 23 percent of precincts reporting.

Dunn will face incumbent Debra Bowen in the November election. She ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.

GOP heavyweights encouraged Dunn, a 34-year-old former pro football player, to line up against Bowen, who served 14 years in the Legislature before moving on to secretary of state in 2006. Dunn says he would require all voters to show ID at the polls. He cast his first vote only a year ago.

Bowen has done little fundraising, and as of May 22, had only $67,000 in her campaign account, less than Dunn's $75,000. Taitz, a state leader in the so-called "birther" movement that has challenged President Barack Obama's U.S. citizenship, reported no campaign fundraising.

This test program for public campaign financing for one statewide office appeared to be headed for defeat.

With about a quarter of the votes counted, Proposition 15 was going down 57 percent to 43 percent.

Passage would create a voluntary program allowing candidates for secretary of state to run publicly funded campaigns in 2014 and 2018

The program would be bankrolled by $6 million raised every four years, primarily from lobbyists, lobbying firms and lobbying employers.

The California Nurses Association, the California Clean Money Campaign and other supporters argued that special interests have corrupted state politics and that public funding would let elected officials focus on public issues and make it easier for non-wealthy candidates to run.

Opponents, including the California Chamber of Commerce-backed California Business Political Action Committee and many lobbying groups, said public funds should be spent on services and that special interests could still donate to other fundraising efforts.

Voters approved Proposition 13, an earthquake-retrofit measure, by a wide margin.

Current law allows earthquake safety upgrades on unreinforced buildings to escape increases in property tax assessments for 15 years.

Proposition 13 would remove the 15-year limit and extend the exclusion until the property is sold.

State lawmakers voted unanimously to put the measure on the ballot, saying it would encourage property owners to retrofit buildings for earthquakes and reduce workload for tax assessors. There was no organized opposition.

This Mercury Insurance-bankrolled measure, which again asked voters to set rules governing auto insurance and its pricing, appeared to be headed for victory.

With about a quarter of the vote counted, the measure had support from 53.5 percent of voters.

Current law lets car insurers offer discounts to "continuous," long-standing customers. This measure would let insurers extend these discounts to other companies' customers.

Mercury Insurance, the California Chamber of Commerce and other supporters said it would let insurers compete more aggressively, drive down premiums and save motorists money.

Opponents, including Consumer Watchdog and Consumers Union, called the measure an assault on a 1988 law that protects motorists who didn't previously have insurance coverage and said it would impose surcharges of up to $1,000 on motorists who don't qualify for discounts.

Mercury was the measure's biggest backer by far, contributing more than $15.9 million by June 3.

The Sierra Ballroom of the Universal City Hilton hotel exploded in applause and cheers tonight as Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman took the stage to celebrate her crushing primary win over rival Steve Poizner.

Standing in front of a multicultural backdrop of dozens of supporters, Whitman said she had received "a very gracious call" from Poizner and then went after her Democratic rival Jerry Brown, who easily won his primary race tonight.

Whitman, the former CEO of online auction firm eBay, also congratulated former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina for winning the Republican nomination in the U.S. Senate race.

"Career politicians in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. be warned," Whitman said. "You now face your worst nightmare - two businesswomen from the real world who know how to create jobs, balance budgets and get things done."

About Brown, Whitman said, "Jerry Brown has spent a lifetime in politics, and the results have not been good. Failure seems to follow Jerry Brown everywhere he goes. It's a record of promising much and delivering little. Of saying one thing, and then doing quite another."

She blamed Brown for rising unemployment and state spending during his first two terms as governor, from 1975 to 1983 and for the poor state of Oakland's school when he was mayor in that city from 1998 to 2006.

Brown's campaign has responded to such criticisms by saying the Democrat created 1.9 million jobs during his time as governor and had to increase state spending because local jurisdictions lost billions in revenue after voters passed Proposition 13 in 1978.

"I say California can do better," Whitman said. "Because while politics is Jerry Brown's business, my business is creating good new jobs."

Like she has throughout the primary, Whitman also targeted state employees, saying, "If you give me the honor of being your next governor, the special interests and public employee unions won't stand a chance, because I will owe my office to no one but you."

Independent expenditure committees funded by such public employee unions are in fact preparing to spend millions of dollars taking on Whitman, with TV ads against her expected to hit the airwaves within days.

Whitman, a billionaire who has poured a record-breaking $71 million so far into her campaign, said she was beholden to no one - echoing rhetoric used by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger when he was running for his office.

Brown, she said, could not make such a claim.

"He has aligned nearly every single interest group in Sacramento against us," Whitman said. "And that means favors will be owed to every power broker with a vested interest in keeping our state budget broken, our schools underperforming and the state pension system spinning into insolvency."

Whitman finished her speech with an exhuberant "God bless California!" Green and orange balloons dropped from the ballroom's ceiling, and confetti flew. Her husband, two sons and extended family joined her onstage. The sound system rocked country star Kenny Chesney's song "This is Our Moment," a fixture of her campaign.

Tomorrow, Whitman is scheduled to attend a California Republican Party unity breakfast in Anaheim.

Photo: GOP gubernatorial nominee Whitman and husband Griffith Harsh greet supporters at her election night party in Los Angeles June 8, 2010. (Hector Amezcua/Sacramento Bee)

With no primary contests to worry about, Democrat Ami Bera and GOP Rep. Dan Lungren have been ramping up for the November general election for months.

Both candidates were uncontested in the district, which includes Sacramento suburbs and parts of Alpine, Amador, Calaveras and Solano counties.

Lungren, of Gold River, is seeking his fourth term from here in the House, after serving eight years as attorney general and a decade in Congress from a Long Beach district in the 1980s. Bera, a physician from Elk Grove, has a thin political résumé but has raised nearly $1.4 million for the showdown with Lungren, much of it from Indian American donors across the country.

As of May 19, Bera had $961,000 in the bank to Lungren's $651,000. With voter registration nearly even between Democrats and Republicans, it's a top-tier target for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Expect the candidates to battle over the federal health care bill, which Lungren voted against and Bera supported as "an important first step."

Assembly Dave Jones of Sacramento has won the Democratic nomination for insurance commissioner, defeating Assemblyman Hector De La Torre of South Gate.

In the Republican primary, meanwhile, Assemblyman Mike Villines, R-Shaver Lake, and lawyer Brian Fitzgerald were locked in a tight race.

De La Torre and Jones both earned reputations as Capitol liberals who aggressively pursued endorsements and money to wage their campaigns. Jones won on both counts.

Jerry Brown accepted his no-drama victory over a cast of unknowns in the Democratic gubernatorial primary tonight by vowing to bring an "agenda of humility" to rescue California from fiscal collapse and "recapture the dream and optimism."

Speaking to several hundred supporters at Club Nokia in Los Angeles' glitzy L.A. Live entertainment district, Brown waxed nostalgic over his reputation for frugality as governor a generation ago and argued he has the savvy to lead the state out of its current crisis.

"I know how Sacramento works and more importantly I know how it should work," he declared as he touted his record as governor in creating jobs, cutting taxes and supporting schools. He also boasted of getting rid of gubernatorial perks, including a limosine and private jet, and shunning the governor's mansion for an apartment across from the Capitol.

He didn't mention his November election opponent, former eBay CEO Meg Whitman by name. But he suggested she was merely a weathly candidate preening to be California's chief executive with little idea of the actual challenges of the job.

"It's not enough for someone rich and restless to look in the mirror one morning and decide, 'Hey, it's time to be governor of California,'" he said.

He chided both major Republican primary candidates, Whitman and Steve Poizner, for saying "they want to run government like a business" while "they set a national record for wasteful spending" in campaign ads.

Brown said he is the man to lead the state with "an agenda of humility, living within our means" with governance based on "honesty, frugality and innovation."

"We embark tonight on a very difficult but historical mission...We want to recapture the dream and the optimision," he told supporters.

Then he added: "Just let me say that to serve again as governor would be a deep honor."

Proposition 16, the Pacific Gas and Electric Co.-backed measure that would make it more difficult for public power agencies to expand into new territory and discourage municipalities from starting their own utilities, was hanging on to a slim lead tonight in early statewide returns.

Yes votes accounted for 51 percent of the total with 13 percent reporting.

Proposition 16 - formally known as the Taxpayers Right to Vote Act - was put on the California ballot as a constitutional amendment requiring a two-thirds vote before a public utility could extend service to new customers or new territories.

From the beginning, it was spearheaded virtually single-handedly by San Francisco-based PG&E, which spent more than $45 million to persuade voters to approve it.

Some public policy analysts contended that the massive effort by PG&E dated to 2006, when the state's biggest for-profit utility spent $13 million persuading local voters to reject the Sacramento Municipal Utility District's attempt to expand into PG&E's territory in eastern Yolo County.

Proposition 16 opponents pointed to comments PG&E CEO Peter Darbee made earlier this year to investors as smoking-gun evidence that SMUD's 2006 campaign prompted PG&E to guard its territory with a ballot measure.

PG&E countered that Proposition 16 was simply good policy for situations in which millions of electric customers and taxpayer dollars are on the line.

The Democratic incumbent in the 6th Senate District, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, will face Republican challenger Marcel Weiland in November.

Steinberg is seeking his second term in this safely Democratic district. He reported receiving $223,107 in campaign contributions this year through May 22, spending $226,479 during the same period.

His Senate 2010 campaign account had almost $1.2 million in the bank on the latest report.

The Republican race for Board of Equalization featuring three experienced officeholders was too close to call, with Sen. George Runner leading in early returns. The Democratic contest also had no clear winner in early vote counting, although Chris Parker had a lead.

Republicans have long held the massive 2nd district for the tax board, which includes all or part of 34 of California's 58 counties and stretches from Los Angeles County to Oregon. The Republican contest featured Runner of Lancaster (33 percent of tallied votes with 13 percent of precincts reporting), former Lodi Assemblyman Alan Nakanishi (30 percent) and
Barbara Alby (28 percent), a former assemblywoman now serving the term of recent Schwarzenegger appointee Bill Leonard.

Parker, a tax counselor with the Franchise Tax Board, was leading with 51 percent of the Democratic vote.

Disgruntled California voters have blown up their election system by approving Proposition 14, which tosses out the current political party-based primary system in all but presidential races.

The measure was far ahead in returns, with about 60 percent of votes in favor and 40 against with more than 20 percent of precincts reported.

Backed strongly by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Proposition 14 called for a new "open" primary, in which all candidates for an office - except those in presidential primaries - appear on a ballot given to voters regardless of party registration.

Under the system - which Washington state has already adopted - the top-two vote getters who emerge from a primary square off in a general election, even if they are from the same political party.

"I am thrilled California voters have decided to make a historic change and give equal access to the same ballot for all by passing Proposition 14," Schwarzenegger said in a statement Tuesday night. "This sends a clear message that Californians are tired of partisan gridlock and dysfunction and want a system where representatives put what's best for California ahead of extreme partisan doctrine."

Jason Olson, director of Independent Voice, a group that backed that measure, predicted that more decline-to-state voters would turn out for primary elections with the Proposition 14 approach. Independent voters are now about 20 percent of all California's registered voters. .

"We don't want to be confined by the parties when it comes to who we decide we want to vote for," Olson said.

Right now, if independents want to vote in a California Democratic or Republican primary, they can request one of those party's ballots.

Olson and other supporters of Proposition 14 said the measure would lead to more moderates running for office. The typical system, they said, produces politicians loath to negotiate and take positions that might alienate bedrock Democratic or Republican primary voters.

Supporters also said a top-two system would help minor parties advance candidates.
But that is not the position of California's major parties, the Democratic and Republican, nor the smaller Green, Libertarian and Peace and Freedom parties.

They all oppose the top-two system, arguing it limits voters' choices in a general election.
John Burton, chairman of the California Democratic Party, said the system "makes for mischief," and would disappoint voters by forcing parties to pour more money into elections to appeal to a range of voters in primaries.

Open primaries give candidates more freedom in identifying themselves and mislead voters, Burton said. He said "it's a serious thought" that the Democratic Party might file a lawsuit if it passes.

Republican Party spokesman Rob Griffith said suing "isn't the Republican Party way of doing things," but that the party also believes voters' choices would be limited.

According to the nonpartisan Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles, about one-third of all California's legislative and congressional district races could end up with two candidates from the same party - mostly Democrat - as rivals in general elections.

This post was updated at 10:35 p.m. with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's comments.

Below is Meg Whitman's prepared acceptance speech.

Thank you so much... What a great night!

This victory is yours!

I just received a very gracious phone call from Steve Poizner conceding the race. I want to commend Commissioner Poizner and his supporters for the energy they brought to their campaign.

It has been a tough campaign, but I'm a stronger candidate tonight because of it. I'm battle-tested.

And I'm ready to give Jerry Brown the toughest election fight he's faced in his 40 years of politics!

Let me take a moment to congratulate our great Republican Senate nominee Carly Fiorina on her victory this evening. Career politicians in Sacramento and Washington be warned - you now face your worst nightmare; two business women from the real world who know how to create jobs, balance budgets and get things done!

I have so many people to thank... So many made tonight possible.

First, let me thank my husband Griff and our two sons. You can't take on a challenge this big without the love and support of family.

I want to thank Governor Wilson, the chairman of my campaign. My co-chairs, Congressman Kevin McCarthy, Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack, State Senator Tony Strickland, Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, former Assemblywoman Sharon Runner and Bill Simon.

Let me also thank my great campaign team and the more than 20,000 volunteers across the state that helped make tonight possible... What an amazing effort. I'm so proud of all of you. In particular, I want to say thank you to Jillian Hasner, Mike Murphy, Jeff Randle and Henry Gomez.

But tonight's win would not have been possible without the trust of the voters. I'm humbled by this victory. I am so grateful for the support and the trust you've shown in me today. And I'm deeply committed to running a campaign that gives you hope for a better tomorrow.

It appears that no candidate will have the 50 percent needed to win the state school chief's job outright, but Larry Aceves and Tom Torlakson are leading in early returns. The two top vote-getters in the nonpartisan race will advance to the November general election.

With 12 percent of the statewide vote counted, Aceves had 21 percent to Torlakson's 18 percent. Sen. Gloria Romero is running third with 14 percent of the vote.

All three leading candidates - Torlakson, a Democratic assemblyman from Pittsburg, Romero, D-Los Angeles, and former school superintendent Aceves - saw their campaigns waged largely by others through independent expenditure committees. EdVoice, a nonprofit, pro-charter school group backed Romero, while teachers unions supported Torlakson and the Association of California School Administrators backed Aceves.

Meg Whitman, the billionaire former CEO of online auction firm eBay, will square off in the November general election against Democrat Jerry Brown.

With 13 percent of precincts reporting, Whitman, 54, had captured 64 percent of the Republican vote, while GOP rival Steve Poizner had 26 percent. Brown claimed his party's nomination with 84 percent of the Democratic vote.

Since declaring her intention to run on Feb. 9, Whitman virtually rewrote the rules of campaigning. She spent twice as much as any statewide candidate in primary history, starting her paid advertising campaign 14 months before the general election.

She joined U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina in making history as they became the first women to win the California Republican Party's nomination to the state's highest elected offices.

She told supporters that Sacramento politicians now face their worst nightmare: "Two businesswomen who know how to create jobs, balance budgets and get things done."

Brown reminded his backers that "I've done this before."

"If we pull together we can fix things," he said. "I know how Sacramento works, and more importantly, I know how it should work."

Whitman entered the race promising to spend as much as $150 million of her own money on her campaign. By primary day, she had put in $71 million and raised another $16 million.

"From the beginning of the campaign, we built a plan and executed against it," said veteran Republican consultant Jeff Randle, a top Whitman adviser. "When the campaign got really ugly this year, we stuck to the plan. That's a complete reflection of who the candidate is."

The marketing expert rarely strayed from her script, rolling out catch phrases such as "spine of steel" and "the power of many" at her February 2009 campaign launch and repeating them at countless events in the following 16 months.

She also largely stuck to her three-pronged policy platform -- cutting government spending, fixing education and creating jobs.

Whitman showcased those messages when she started her radio campaign in September 2009 and began running TV ads in February, far earlier than any other statewide candidate.

"A good portion of her success has to do with the way she rolled out her campaign with virtually no opposition," said San Jose State University political science professor Larry Gerston. "Steve Poizner didn't spend during that period. That allowed her to start at a much more advanced level. It's really forced him to play a lot more catch-up ball than he might have."

The careful planning, which included hiring high-priced consultants tied to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Gov. Pete Wilson, didn't stop the campaign from hitting bumps along the way.

Revelations about Whitman's poor voting history sent her campaign into a tailspin in September. She spent about two weeks apologizing for what she called an "atrocious" voting record, then began insisting that she recalled voting in "on numerous occasions" in elections for which no records currently are available.

Whitman's support also fell after Poizner began his paid advertising campaign slamming her ties to the maligned investment firm Goldman Sachs and staking a hard-right position on illegal immigration.

By May, Whitman's 50-point lead in a Public Policy Institute of California poll had shrunk to nine points.

Whitman responded by using her campaign's key advantage: money.

She filled the airwaves with new ads responding to the criticisms, rebuilding her lead. Poizner, another wealthy former Silicon Valley CEO, declined to match Whitman dollar for dollar.

Heading into the primary election, he had spent about $24 million of his own money on his campaign and raised $2.4 million from outside sources.

Rep. Wally Herger easily staved off upstart Pete Stiglich in the Republican primary and will seek a 13th House term against Jim Reed, who was unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

In early returns, Herger had 60 percent of the vote to 40 percent for Stiglich.

Stiglich, a retired Air Force colonel from Cottonwood, tried to do something unheard of in this massive district that stretches from Woodland to Yreka: run to the right of Wally Herger. He set up a "Where's Wally" website, slamming Herger for bringing spending earmarks to the district and for criticizing Sarah Palin's tone in the health care debate.

Reed, an attorney from Fall River Mills, meanwhile, has been attacking Herger for months as too conservative for the district. It will be a tough slog for a Democrat in this district come November, however: registered Republicans outnumber Democrats, 43 percent to 33 percent.

With all party primaries uncontested, the result in the treasurer's primary was known weeks ago when candidates filed their papers: GOP Sen. Mimi Walters will face incumbent Democrat Bill Lockyer in November.

Walters, an investment banker who has served in the Legislature since 2004, has yet to crank up much of a campaign, but has promised to "clean house in Sacramento."

Lockyer served in the Legislature for 26 years and eight years as attorney general before winning the treasurer's post in 2006. He has nearly $8.7 million in campaign cash; while Walters showed nearly $339,000 as of May 22.

Sen. Tony Strickland appears on the way to the Republican nomination for controller. With 9 percent of precincts reporting, Strickland had 60 percent of the vote while oppenent David Evans has 40 percent.

Strickland's win would set up a rematch with incumbent Democrat John Chiang, who was unopposed, in the November general election.

Chiang beat Strickland by 10 points in the 2006 race, despite huge independent spending for Strickland by Indian tribes and software maker Intuit. Chiang had $1.2 million in campaign cash as of May 22, compared with $163,000 for Strickland.

Chiang pleased public employees by refusing to implement the governor's minimum wage order. Strickland could try to pin state budget woes on one of its elected fiscal officers, though lawmakers - not the controller - write budgets.

Longtime Sacramento County Supervisor Roger Dickinson and Sacramento City Councilman Kevin McCarty are virtually tied in early returns in the Democratic primary fight for Assembly District 9.

The Secretary of State's website reported that Dickinson had 34.1 percent of the vote, while McCarty had 34.3 percent in early returns.

The Democratic nominee will face Rick Redding, unopposed in the GOP primary, in the November election.

Dickinson, McCarty, Sacramento CIty Counilwoman Lauren Hammond, and labor leader Chris Garland disagreed little on the issues, leaving Democratic primary voters to choose based on the candidates' records and campaign tactics.

The California Faculty Association backed Garland, its political director, and underwrote hit pieces against McCarty.

Dickinson reported the most cash on hand on May 22 of the Democrats, $166,119. McCarty had $75,681 in the bank; Hammond, $29,227; and Garland, $17,819.

Democrats hold a 35-point registration advantage in the district.
Photo caption: Michele Melendez, a campaign worker for Kevin McCarty, struggles with balloons as she walks from McCarty's campaign headquarters to El Patron restaurant, site of his election night party, in Sacramento on Tuesday. McCarty is running in the Democratic primary for California Assembly District 9. Photo by Robert Durell

A majority of Republican primary voters have backed Assemblyman Mike Villines as their nominee for insurance commissioner in what is a surprisely tight race so far with GOP political newcomer, Brian FitzGerald.

Villines, a former GOP Assembly leader who is termed out this year, had 55 percent of the vote with 9 percent of precincts around the state reporting. FitzGerald, a state Department of Insurance enforcement lawyer who has spent less than $5,000 of his campaign, had 45 percent of the vote.

Meanwhile, the Democratic race between two termed-out assemblymen, Dave Jones of Sacramento and Hector De La Torre of South Gate started with a much wider margin.

Jones had 66 percent to De La Torre's 34 percent.

De La Torre and Jones, who both earned reputations at the Capitol as hard-charging liberals, battled it out for endorsements and money in the Democratic race, with Sacramento attorney Jones winning on both scores. The Sacramento attorney took key labor endorsements and the prized nod from the state party apparatus.

Rep. Tom McClintock won the GOP nomination tonight and will seek a second House term against Democrat Clint Curtis from Rancho Cordova.

McClintock had 86 percent of the vote to 14 percent for Michael Babich in early returns.

Babich, a professor and retired Army colonel from Auburn, tried to paint McClintock as too ideologically rigid, but had little money to get his message out. National Democrats seemed to have lost interest in this Republican-heavy district after McClintock survived the 2008 race against Charlie Brown in the wake of longtime Rep. John Doolittle's demise in the Washington lobbying scandal.

Curtis, a computer programmer who twice ran for the House in Florida, faces a huge fundraising challenge. Republicans outnumber Democrats 46 percent to 30 percent in the huge 4th Congressional District, which includes Placer and El Dorado counties.

Sacramento physician Richard Pan is edging out rival Democrats while Folsom attorney Andy Pugno has a handy lead among Republicans in early returns tonight in the 5th Assembly District.

The Secretary of State reported that Pan's share of the Democratic primary vote is 43 percent while Pugno is pulling in 43 percent in the GOP primary.

The chance that Democrats could pick up the 5th Assembly District for the first time since 1978 drew big money from outside groups.

Pugno, who defended Proposition 8's ban on gay marriage as a member of its legal team, was among the better-known GOP candidates.

Among Democrats, Pan had the support of the California Medical Association.

Larry Miles, who is trailing Pan, was the target of smear mailers that appeared to be the work of deep-pocketed EdVoice, which advocates for charter schools.

Meg Whitman's election night party is filling up at the Hilton hotel in Universal City, and many of the attendees are volunteers who have shown extra dedication to the campaign, such as making over 300 phone calls for the cause.

Many of them whooped as word news spread that the Associated Press had called the race for Whitman.

That includes insurance agent Scott Warneck, of Winnetka, Calif., who said he and his wife each volunteer about three days a week at the Whitman field office in Woodland Hills.

Warneck said he's made about 800 phone calls for the Whitman campaign.

"I never wanted to be involved in a campaign before," Warneck said. "But Meg seems to be the only one who will listen to people for a change."

He said he also liked her focus on budget issues and on cutting government spending.

Josephine Chong, a small business owner from Burbank, said she heard about Whitman through a flier she received at home and now works the phones for her in the same Woodland Hills office. Chong said she also spreads the word about Whitman in her Southern California Thai community.

"Everything should be fun like a corporation," Chong said. "It shouldn't be political."

The Republican race for lietenant governor featuring incumbent Abel Maldonado and Sen. Sam Aanestad has seen Maldonado jump to an early lead with 51 percent of the vote. Aanestad has 25 percent with four other GOP hopefuls registering 8 percent or less.

Meanwhile, early returns in the Democratic fight for the office show San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom leading with 54 percent of the vote to 35 percent for Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn.

In the GOP race, Aanestad tried to paint Maldonado, recently appointed to the post, as a tax raiser. In the Democratic race, Hahn banked on her famous name in Los Angeles, while Newsom drew from his prominence as mayor.

Early returns show that California voters may have embraced Proposition 14, which tosses out the current party-based primary election system in favor of an "top two" open primary.

With 9 percent of precincts now in, the measure was far ahead with more than 60 percent of votes in favor and 39 percent opposed.

Backed strongly by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Proposition 14 called for a new "open" primary, in which all candidates for an office - except those in presidential primaries - appear on a ballot given to voters regardless of party registration.

Under the system - which Washington state has already adopted - the top two vote-getters who emerge from a primary square off in a general election, even if they are from the same political party.

That revolutionary approach doesn't bother Jason Olson, director of Independent Voice, a group that backed Proposition 14.

The group contends that with an open primary, more decline-to-state voters - 20 percent of California's registered voters - would turn out for primary elections.

"We don't want to be confined by the parties when it comes to who we decide we want to vote for," Olson said.

Right now, if independents want to vote in a California primary, they have to request a ballot from a particular party. Not all parties allow "decline to state" voters to participate.

Olson and other supporters of Proposition 14 said the measure would lead to more moderates running for office. The typical system, they said, produces politicians loath to negotiate and take positions that might alienate bedrock primary Democratic or Republican voters.

Supporters also said a top-two system would help minor parties advance candidates.

But that is not the position of California's major parties, the Democrats and Republicans, nor the smaller Green, Libertarian and Peace and Freedom parties.

They all oppose the top-two system, arguing it limits voters' choices in a general election.

John Burton, chairman of the California Democratic Party, said the system "makes for mischief," and would disappoint voters by forcing parties to pour more money into elections to appeal to a range of voters in primaries.

Open primaries give candidates more freedom in identifying themselves and mislead voters, Burton said.

He said "it's a serious thought" that the Democratic Party might file a lawsuit if it passes.

Republican Party spokesman Rob Griffith said suing "isn't the Republican Party way of doing things," but that the party also believes voters' choices would be limited.

According to the nonpartisan Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles, about one-third of all California's legislative and congressional district races could end up with two candidates from the same party as rivals in general elections.

Proposition 16, the Pacific Gas and Electric Co.-backed measure that would make it more difficult for public power agencies to expand into new territory and discourage municipalities from starting their own utilities, has a slight lead tonight in early statewide returns.

Yes votes accounted for 52 percent of the total with 1,695 precincts of 22,894, or 7.4 percent, reporting.

Proposition 16 -- formally known as the Taxpayers Right to Vote Act -- was put on the California ballot as a constitutional amendment requiring a two-thirds vote before a public utility could extend service to new customers or new territories.

From the beginning, it was spearheaded virtually single-handedly by San Francisco-based PG&E, which spent more than $45 million to persuade voters to approve it.

Some public policy analysts contended that the massive effort by PG&E dated back to 2006, when the state's biggest for-profit utility spent $13 million persuading local voters to reject the Sacramento Municipal Utility District's attempt to expand into PG&E's territory in eastern Yolo County.

Proposition 16 opponents pointed to comments PG&E CEO Peter Darbee made earlier this year to investors as smoking-gun evidence that SMUD's 2006 campaign prompted PG&E to guard its territory with a ballot measure.

Critics -- which included the League of Women Voters of California, the Agricultural Energy Consumers Association and the California Tax Reform Association -- characterized Proposition 16 as a blatant power grab, a move by PG&E to safeguard its monopoly in areas where it already provides service.

While it contains various exceptions, current law generally requires only that municipal utilities obtain a majority vote in the new territory they are proposing to serve.

Proposition 16 called for municipal utilities seeking to expand to obtain a two-thirds vote in both the area they already serve, and the one into which they want to move - a supermajority that opponents claimed PG&E competitors would never be able to obtain.

PG&E countered that Proposition 16 was simply good policy for situations in which millions of electric customers and taxpayer dollars are on the line. The utility said voters should have a say about public entities getting into the power business.

Measure supporters included the California Taxpayers' Association and the California Chamber of Commerce. The Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce came out against it, however.

PG&E spent millions on an advertising campaign that stressed voter and taxpayer rights. The utility insisted that consumers need to have a rightful say in how they receive electric power and how public dollars are used.

To that end, PG&E paid for TV commercials and home mailings to hammer home the message that citizens needed to defend their power at the ballot box.

Public utilities such as SMUD could not compete with PG&E's spending. SMUD noted that it was forbidden to spend public dollars on a ballot initiative.

Yet SMUD pushed back in other ways. Its board formally opposed Proposition 16, and SMUD was among a group of California public utilities that filed suit in March in an unsuccessful attempt to disqualify Proposition 16 from the ballot.

Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Steve Cooley are leading a crowded field of candidates in their parties' primaries for attorney general.

If their early leads hold, the two would face off in the November contest to succeed Jerry Brown as California's top law enforcement officer.

With 4 percent of precincts counted, Harris had 27 percent of the Democrat vote, followed by former Facebook counsel Chris Kelly, 19 percent; Assemblyman Ted Lieu, 14.6 percent; Assemblyman Alberto Torrico, 14.5 percent; attorney Rocky Delgadillo, 10 percent; Assemblyman Pedro Nava, 9 percent and Mike Schmier, 6 percent..

Cooley, the Los Angeles County district attorney, is leading attorney John Eastman 55 percent to 29 percent. State Sen. Tom Harman is in third place with 16 percent of reported votes.

Early returns showed former businesswoman Carly Fiorina out to a big lead in the race for the Republican Senate nomination Tuesday night.

Fiorina, the former chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard (HP), had 59 percent of the vote, with 7 percent of precincts reporting as of 8:30 p.m. Former Rep. Tom Campbell was second, with 22 percent, and Assemblyman Chuck DeVore was third, with 16 percent.

Fiorina was expected to address supporters at the Anaheim Hilton at around 10 p.m.

Fiorina, a 55-year-old millionaire, had led in most recent polls leading up to Election Day. She spent the most money in the race and surged ahead of Campbell in May after launching a statewide advertising blitz.

In the closing days of the campaign, Fiorina began looking ahead to a general election matchup with Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, a three-term incumbent first elected in 1992. She accused Boxer of being too liberal and too partisan to represent the state, and she began running a television advertisement that questioned the senator's commitment to national security.

Boxer said she welcomed a fight against any of the GOP candidates.

"All of them want to repeal health care," she said. "All of them oppose the jobs bill. All of them oppose Wall Street reform. All of them are still in favor of drilling off the coast of California. This is going to be a great race. I am very excited about it, because it's not going to be about personalities or who has the better TV ads."

In the last weeks of the race, the GOP candidates argued over who was the best suited to defeat Boxer in November. Fiorina tried to paint Campbell as an out-of-touch politician who had run for office too often, who wanted to raise taxes and who was too liberal on social issues. Campbell was the only candidate in the race who backed gay rights and abortion rights.

Until last month, the two had been running neck-in-neck in most opinion polls. Campbell shook up the race by becoming a candidate in January, after he abandoned a bid to become governor.

Campbell argued that he was the only Republican who actually beat Boxer in a hypothetical matchup. A poll published in the Los Angeles Times last week showed him beating Boxer while both Fiorina and DeVore lost in hypothetical matchups. But a Field Poll released on Friday showed that more GOP voters favored a Fiorina-Boxer matchup than a Campbell-Boxer contest.

Fiorina, who served as a top economic adviser for GOP presidential candidate John McCain in 2008, tried to run as an outsider, stressing her lack of political experience. For years, she didn't vote, but Fiorina boasted that she was the only candidate who had ever created a job or met a payroll. She argued that her business experience would serve her well in the Senate.

Her campaign focused on her compelling personal story: She dropped out of UCLA Law School, got a job as a receptionist and began climbing the corporate ladder, ending up at Hewlett-Packard, which she led from 1999 to 2005. Fortune Magazine called Fiorina, the first woman to head a Fortune 20 company, "The Most Powerful Woman in Business."

The company's stock dropped by 50 percent during Fiorina's tenure, but she received a $21 million severance when she was fired. She decided to run for Senate with her hair still growing out after surviving a scare with breast cancer.

While her backers praised Fiorina as a savvy executive, her critics said she was a ruthless leader at HP, firing thousands and earning the nickname "Chainsaw Carly."

Fiorina ran as a pro-Israel candidate, criticizing Campbell for voting against aid to Israel and for his alleged association with Muslim extremists and critics of the Israeli government.

In February, she ran an Internet ad that portrayed Campbell as a red-eyed "demon sheep," likening him to a wolf in sheep's clothing that crawled among a field of fiscally conservative sheep. While it aroused criticism from many, Fiorina argued that it was appropriate and humorous.

Photo credit: Bryan Patrick

LOS ANGELES --Meg Whitman convincingly won the race for the Republican nomination for governor Tuesday after spending a record $90 million to introduce herself to voters and bash rival Steve Poizner.

The billionaire former CEO of online auction firm eBay will square off in the Nov. 9 general election against Democrat Jerry Brown, who faced no serious opposition in Tuesday's primary vote.

With 7 percent of precincts reporting, Whitman, 54, had captured 66 percent of the Republican vote, while Poizner had won 25 percent. Brown claimed his party's nomination with 84 percent of the Democratic vote.

Since declaring her intention to run on Feb. 9, Whitman has virtually rewritten the rules of campaigning. She spent twice as much as any statewide candidate in primary history, starting her paid advertising campaign 14 months before the general election and heavily limiting her exposure to journalists.

If tonight's results hold, she will be the first woman to win the Republican nomination for governor.

Whitman entered the race promising to spend as much as $150 million of her own money on her campaign. By primary day, she had put in $71 million and raised another $16 million.

"From the beginning of the campaign, we built a plan and executed against it," said veteran Republican consultant Jeff Randle, a top Whitman adviser. "When the campaign got really ugly this year, we stuck to the plan. That's a complete reflection of who the candidate is."

The marketing expert rarely strayed from her script, rolling out catch phrases such as "spine of steel" and "the power of many" at her February 2009 campaign launch and repeating them at countless events in the following 16 months.

She also largely stuck to her three-pronged policy platform -- cutting government spending, fixing education and creating jobs.

Whitman showcased those messages when she started her radio campaign in September 2009 and began running TV ads in February, far earlier than any other statewide candidate.

"A good portion of her success has to do with the way she rolled out her campaign with virtually no opposition," said San Jose State University political science professor Larry Gerston. "Steve Poizner didn't spend during that period. That allowed her to start at a much more advanced level. It's really forced him to play a lot more catch-up ball than he might have."

The careful planning, which included hiring high-priced consultants tied to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Gov. Pete Wilson, didn't stop the campaign from hitting bumps along the way.

Revelations about Whitman's poor voting history sent her campaign into a tailspin in September. She spent about two weeks apologizing for what she called an "atrocious" voting record, then began insisting that she recalled voting in "on numerous occasions" in elections for which no records currently are available.

Whitman's support also fell after Poizner began his paid advertising campaign slamming her ties to the maligned investment firm Goldman Sachs and staking a hard-right position on illegal immigration.

By May, Whitman's 50-point lead in a Public Policy Institute of California poll had shrunk to nine points.

Whitman responded by using her campaign's key advantage: money.

She filled the airwaves with new ads responding to the criticisms, rebuilding her lead. Poizner, another wealthy former Silicon Valley CEO, declined to match Whitman dollar for dollar.

Heading into the primary election, he had spent about $24 million of his own money on his campaign and raised $2.4 million from outside sources.

Political newcomer Damon Dunn is emerging from the Republican primary is winning big over Orly Taitz. Assuming his 50 point lead holds -- 12 percent of precincts has reported -- he will face incumbent Debra Bowen, who was unopposed in the Democratic contest,in the fall.

GOP heavyweights encouraged Dunn, a 34-year-old former pro football player, to line up against Bowen, who served 14 years in the Legislature before moving on to secretary of state in 2006. Dunn says he would require all voters to show ID at the polls. He cast his first vote only a year ago.

Tonight he is leading the Republican primary with 75 percent of the vote. Taitz has 25 percent.

Bowen has done little fundraising, and as of May 22, had only $67,000 in her campaign account, less than Dunn's $75,000. Taitz, a state leader in the so-called "birther" movement that has challenged President Barack Obama's U.S. citizenship, reported no campaign fundraising.

Paul A. Smith defeated Erik Smitt in the Republican primary for the right to advance to the November general election to face Democrat Doris Matsui, who was unopposed.

With 97 percent of the votes counted, Smith led 57 percent to 43 percent.

Smith was the more experienced candidate in the race between two people with similar sounding names. The Carmichael business owner lost to Matsui in the 2008 contest, 74 percent to 21 percent, in a heavily Democratic district that includes all of Sacramento and half of Elk Grove and Rancho Cordova.

Matsui is well positioned to win a third full term after taking over for her late husband, Robert Matsui, in 2005. The district is overwhelmingly Democratic, and she had $356,000 in campaign cash as of May 19. Both GOP candidates were in the red.

Jerry Brown, stoking his November gubernatorial run with an anti-Wall Street theme, has fired off a letter urging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to hold firm in passing federal legislation to rein-in "reckless Wall Street banking practices."

Brown is eager as a gubernatorial candidate to exploit Republican Meg Whitman's relationships with the Wall Street investment banking community. But he suggested in the letter he was writing to protect consumers in his role as California attorney general.

Decide for yourself. His letter appears below.

Dear Speaker Pelosi:

In anticipation of a compromise on the House and Senate financial services reform bills, I urge you to press for the strongest possible language to protect consumers and our economy from another debilitating crisis caused by reckless Wall Street banking practices and complicit federal regulators.

Two elements of a compromise bill are key to that protection. One, national banks should be subject to the same state consumer protection laws as state banking institutions and virtually a! ll companies operating in industries other than financial services. And, two, state attorneys general should have the authority to enforce all applicable consumer protection laws against national banks.

The House language is preferable on both points, and I recommend that you push for its adoption. It would establish a higher burden for the OCC to preempt state consumer protection laws. It also would allow state attorneys general to enforce all federal consumer protection laws against national banks, not just regulations that may be adopted by the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

Sincerely,

EDMUND G. BROWN JR.

With this primary season about to finish, take a look at the key events that defined the governor's race in this timeline. It all started in July 2008...

Past and would-be future Gov. Jerry Brown was in the house early this evening, declaring that he is running again to serve a struggling state that badly needs his experience to rescue California from fiscal ruin.

Brown, who faces no serious opposition in the Democratic primary, arrived for 6 p.m. walk-through at his election night venue at Club Nokia in Los Angeles' trendy L.A. Live entertainment district. He straddled a media platform for a national television interview and then told a swarming gaggle of reporters, "Look, I've done this job before."

In an interview with Neil Cavuto of Fox Business Network, Brown reflected that "at this stage of my life, I never thought I would be running for governor."

"When I look at Sacramento, that awful mess that the politicians created, and also look at the mess that Wall Street created and how we're suffering in this terrible recession, I think we can fix it," Brown said. "I know what's going on up there (at the Capitol). I know how it works. I've got the preparation. I've got the will to pull the legislators together."

Brown told other reporters that, if elected governor, he will slash state spending and "cut wherever we have to" without raising taxes.

He also chided Republican candidates Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner for filling the television airwaves in "a billion dollar demolition derby." But he declined the take the bait when a reporter asked him if he was offended by the Republicans' campaign spending.

"Not at all," Brown said. "These people can do what they feel is appropriate."

However, he added, "If these people were working with homes for the poor and feeding the sick and dying and educating little children, I think they would be stronger candidates."

Photo credit: Jose Luis Villegas, The Sacramento Bee

The journalists are waiting, the buffet tables are set and the orange and green balloons are ready to drop from the ceiling of the Sierra Ballroom at the Hilton hotel in Universal City, where Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman's election night party will start in about an hour.

The Whitman campaign and the media are clearly expecting this to be a victory party about $90 million in the making, including $71 million spent by Whitman herself. In fact, Whitman's victory speech was already flashing on the teleprompters when Whitman stepped on stage earlier this afternoon to look over the ballroom.

Big banners on three sides of the room drive home the central tenets of Whitman's campaign. "Better schools are on the way," reads one. "Jobs are on the way," reads another behind the podium where Whitman will speak. "Fiscal responsibilty is on the way," says another.

Whitman's guests tonight will include former Gov. Pete Wilson, Whitman's campaign chairman, U.S. Rep Darrell Issa, R-Vista, state controller candidate and state Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Moorpark, and Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.

Whitman's main GOP rival Steve Poizner is holding his election night party at the Hilton hotel in Irvine.

If Whitman does win, the general election campaign will start within hours.

Whitman is scheduled to hold a rally Thursday at the Tech Museum in San Jose, where she announced her intention to run in February 2009.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown, who's expected to win the nomination easily tonight, will hold a 10 a.m. news conference tomorrow at the Los Angeles Athletic Club where he'll make "a general election announcement," according to a news release.

Campaign ads from Whitman and independent expenditure committees supporting Brown are also expected to start filling the airwaves soon, even within days.

Photo: Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman and close advisor Henry Gomez review preparations for her election night party on June 8, 2010, in Universal City. (Hector Amezcua/Sacramento Bee)

Voter turnout is already expected to be low today, but anxious candidates have another component to factor in: Game 3 of the NBA Finals, which starts at 6 p.m. tonight with the Los Angeles Lakers facing off against the Boston Celtics in Boston.

Campaigns are clearly worried that people will skip voting after work to watch the game, which is a real likelihood in Southern California. The region's normally packed freeways were virtually empty Sunday night during Game 2, when Boston tied the series at 1-1.

Candidates will also have to consider the Lakers factor when planning their victory or concession speeches. Polls close at 8 p.m., and election results should be coming out over the next hour - just as the game is likely to wrap up.

Already, opponents of Proposition 17, which would affect auto insurance rates, and the campaign of Democratic Lt. Gov. candidate Janice Hahn have sent out news releases urging voters to cast ballots before the game, with Hahn's campaign touting their endorsement from former Laker star Magic Johnson. Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman's victory party will be broadcasting the game at least in the media room.

IMAGE: Boston Celtics player Paul Pierce (L) tries to block LA Lakers guard Shannon Brown (R) before Boston Celtics went on to win 103-94 in game two of the NBA finals at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on June 6, 2010. CREDIT: Mark Ralston/Getty Images.

While the leafy scene around the polling site at the South Pasadena Public Library's community room appeared bucolic this morning, the mood of voters casting their ballots was anything but.

"Disgusted" was the word several people, both Republicans and Democrats, used to describe their choices this primary and how the campaign has been waged so far. The top two GOP gubernatorial candidates Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner alone have spent nearly $110 million this primary, with much of that money going to advertising.

"I'm really disgusted with the total waste of money, the ads, TV, the mail, you can't get away from them," said Walter Cervantes, a 62-year-old retired flight attendant. The Democrat said he had just voted for his party's gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown and U.S. Senate candidate Barbara Boxer.

"If they spent that money to help the people in New Orleans instead of on these ads, we'd be better off," Cervantes said.

Those views were echoed by three Republican voters, who also used the word "disgusted" to describe their mood.

Republican Jim Cain, a real estate developer, said he'd reluctantly voted for Whitman but had showed up Tuesday mainly to support GOP Attorney General candidate John Eastman.

"Both Whitman and Poizner supported Gore and Boxer," Cain said. "There's no way you can be a conservative and support Al Gore."

"Whitman has better chances because she has the money. She'll come in and talk tough, and the public employee unions will kill her. She's slightly better than Poizner, who'd done a 180 over the last few years."

Secretary of State Debra Bowen said today there will be an "army of lawyers" looking at the constitutionality of Proposition 14 if the measure is approved today.

Under the "top two" primary system, candidates of all party affiliations would run on one primary ballot. Only the top two vote-getters would advance to a general run-off election. The change does not impact presidential contests.

Proponents, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, say the change would increase voter choice and turnout in primary contests. They also argue that more moderate politicians would be elected because candidates would have to appeal to a broader swath of the electorate.

But critics say only allowing two candidates and eliminating write-in ballots in the general limits voter choice and that some minor parties would be locked out of the political process.

A similar system enacted in Washington state was upheld by the Supreme Court, but some aspects of the challenge are still being litigated. In California, leaders from the major and minor parties, who oppose the measure, and some ballot access advocates appear poised to file a lawsuit if Proposition 14 passes.

Seven years after Gray Davis was pushed out of the Capitol as the first California governor ever recalled by voters, he has resurfaced as an elder statesman, of sorts, on state politics.

Davis is in substantial demand today as a political analyst, scheduled to make four unpaid appearances on radio or television shows to discuss candidates and propositions on today's ballot.

The former governor will appear on Fox Business Network at 1 p.m., 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., and on National Public Radio between 6:15 and 6:30 p.m., according to a press advisory from Loeb & Loeb, where Davis works as a corporate attorney.

Attorney Josh Freeman Stinn, one of Davis' colleagues at the Los Angeles law firm, said the longtime politician remains passionate about "improving our state and helping to find meaningful reform."

"I think the benefit of being a former governor is that you have an insight into understanding the challenges from the inside out, and then from the outside in, because you have enjoyed both perspectives," Stinn said.

It's not every election -- this decade at least -- that a competitive legislative seat pops up.

But the chance that the 5th Assembly District could switch from Republican hands has drawn interest from both parties.

Democrats think changing voter registration in the district, which includes Fair Oaks, Granite Bay, the cities of Citrus Heights and Folsom, and part of Sacramento, give them a shot at wresting it from the GOP come Nov. 2. Republican lawmaker Roger Niello is termed out at the end of the year.

Today's primary features six Republicans and three Democrats.

On the GOP side Proposition 8 chief counsel Andrew Pugno, legislative aide Craig DeLuz, and attorney Suzanne Jones lead a field that also includes school board president Mike Edwards, writer Chad Vander Veen and businessman and former teacher Donald Thompson.

The Democratic tilt includes school board member Larry Miles, physician Richard Pan and lobbyist Matt Gray.

As California voters decided today whether to approve an experiment in public financing of campaigns, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked Arizona from distributing money to candidates under its system, a model for California's Proposition 15.

Proposition 15, if approved today, would create a pilot program in public campaign financing, initially involving only the secretary of state's office in 2014 and using funds from a new $375 per year registration fee on the Capitol's 1,000-plus lobbyists.

Arizona has a more advanced public campaign financing system called "Clean Elections." A federal judge overturned it, but the 9th DIstrict Court of Appeal approved it and now the Supreme Court will weigh in.

The initial effect of the Supreme Court's action, however, will be to block distribution of funds to candidates in Arizona's Aug. 24 primary election, including those running for governor, and probably those in the Nov. 2 general election since the court will not hear the appeal until it reconvenes in October.

The Goldwater Institute sought the Supreme Court review. "At minimum, I think we've succeeded in stopping the violation of our clients' first amendment rights for this election cycle," Goldwater Institute attorney Nick Dranias said. "The blocking of matching funds continues until they reject or accept our appeal."

Dranias said the Goldwater Institute has until late August to file its appeal.

A coalition of political reform groups support Proposition 15. Capitol lobbyists have strongly opposed its new fees and threatened to challenge them in court if the measure is approved.

Today's primary marks round one in finding at least four new state constitutional officers to take office next year.

Besides governor and attorney general, voters will begin choosing contenders for two other seats that will be open in 2011 -- superintendent of public instruction and insurance commissioner.

With state schools chief Jack O'Connell termed out after this year, a dozen potential replacements are on the ballot today. Because the race is nonpartisan, the top two vote-getters will advance to the Nov. 2 general election if no candidate gets 50 percent of the vote in today's balloting.

Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner is running for governor, leaving three top contenders to replace him at the end of the year. Assemblyman Mike Villines, R-Shaver Lake, is the better-known and better-funded candidate in the GOP primary. Two assemblymen -- Hector De la Torre of South Gate and Dave Jones of Sacramento -- are vying for the Democratic nod today.

At the same time, the appointed lieutenant governor, Republican Abel Maldonado, faces a challenge from Sen. Sam Aanestad for the GOP nomination in his effort to win a full term. The winner will likely face one of two leading candidates vying for the Democratic nomination today -- Los Angeles City Councilman Janice Hahn or San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Three Democratic incumbents -- Treasurer Bill Locker, Controller John Chiang and Secretary of State Debra Bowen -- face no primary election competition in their bids to win a second term in the fall.

On the Republican side, Sen. Mimi Walters is unopposed for the treasurer's office nomination. Damon Dunn and Orly Taitz face off for the GOP nomination for secretary of state, and Sen. Tony Strickland of Moorpark faces Tony Evans for the right to battle Chiang in the controller's office race.

Officially, winners in today's legislative primaries will have to win again on Nov. 2 in order to be sworn in as lawmakers in early December.

But in a couple hotly contested primaries in the Sacramento area, today's winners will have a huge advantage over their general election opponents because voter registration is overwhelmingly tilted toward their party.

* In the 4th Senate District, whoever emerges from the Republican battle between former assemblymen Doug LaMalfa and Rick Keene is in position to take the seat being vacated by Sen. Sam Aanestad, who is termed out.

Republicans outnumber Democrats in the district, which stretches from Marysville to Crescent City, 44 percent to 32 percent.
The Republican nominee will face Democrat Lathe Gill, a Crescent City lawyer, in the general election.

* In the 9th Assembly District, which is centered in Sacramento and votes solidly Democratic, three current public officials and a labor leader are the leading candidates for the Democratic nomination.

Sacramento County Supervisor Roger Dickinson, California Faculty Association leader Chris Garland and Sacramento City Councilmen Lauren Hammond and Kevin McCarty are vying to replace Dave Jones.

Infuriated by endless political robocalls, several dozen Sacramento County residents have called elections officials to complain about the flood of telephonic pitches for candidates or causes.

Brad Buyse, county campaign services manager, said some residents have talked of removing their name from voter rolls to stop what they consider a daily intrusion of privacy.

"I have never seen it like this," Buyse said of the quantity of political robocalls in the days leading to Tuesday's statewide primary.

"Myself, I'm getting four to six calls a day, when I get home, on my messages," Buyse said. "I have an unlisted number and these phone calls are still coming in, so I share the voters' frustration and concern."

Buyse said he personally received two robocalls from the same candidate within a 15-minute span this week.

His comments raise a key question: Can Californians sign up for a do-not-call list to quiet such robocalls?

Put simply, no.

Fresh off a morning news conference in support of the "top two" primary measure, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger accidentally picked two candidates for the GOP Senate nomination when he cast his own ballot at a Los Angeles polling location:

From the Associated Press:

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had some trouble saying "Hasta la vista, baby" to the voting booth because of a ballot mishap in Los Angeles.

Poll worker Keta Hodgson says a scanning machine rejected Schwarzenegger's first ballot Tuesday because he selected two Senate candidates, instead of one.

Hodgson says the Republican governor was given the choice of filling out a new ballot or not having his Senate choice count. He cast a fresh ballot.

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is the front-runner on the Republican Party's ticket for U.S. Senate, which also includes former Congressman Tom Campbell and state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore.

California voters will decide the fate today of Proposition 14, the far-reaching initiative backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that dissolves the current party-based primary system.

Known as the "open" primary or "top-two" proposal, the measure would change the current system of electing party nominees to a contest that selects the two top vote getters. Those two top vote getters could be from the same political party. They would face off in a general election.

Except for presidential primaries, voters would get one ballot with all candidates competing in a primary race rather than a party-based ballot. Supporters of the measure say it could encourage candidates take less partisan positions because they would have to appeal to a greater spectrum of voters.

California's Democratic and Republican parties are against the measure, arguing that it would limit voters' choices in a general election. The Green, Libertarian and Peace and Freedom parties also oppose Proposition 14.

Voters in the 43rd Assembly District and the 37th Senate District heading to the polls today, won't only be picking among primary challengers.

Both districts feature special election run-offs to fill legislative vacancies.

In the 43rd Assembly District, Democrat Mike Gatto, an attorney and former aide to Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman, is going up against Republican Sunder Ramami, former chairman of the Burbank Chamber of Commerce.

Both are seeking to fill the seat vacated by former Democratic Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, who was elected to the Los Angeles City Council in a December special election.

The special election winner in the heavily Democratic district will fill the remainder of Krekorian's term, which ends in November, so both candidates are also on the primary ballot to run for a full term in the general election.

The 37th Senate District pits GOP Assemblyman Bill Emmerson against Democrat Justin Blake. Matt Monica, a registered American Independent, is also on the ballot. The three are vying to replace former GOP Sen. John Benoit, who stepped down after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed him to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. Republicans have a strong registration advantage in the district.

Following an onslaught of spending, TV ads and mailers, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. will learn today whether its drive to approve Proposition 16 has paid off.

Proposition 16 - formally known as the Taxpayers Right to Vote Act - was put on the California ballot as a constitutional amendment requiring a two-thirds vote before a public utility could extend service to new customers or new territories.

From the beginning, it was spearheaded virtually single-handedly by San Francisco-based PG&E, which had spent more than $45 million as of last week to persuade voters to approve it.

Some public policy analysts contended that the massive effort by PG&E dated back to 2006, when the state's biggest for-profit utility spent $13 million persuading local voters to reject the Sacramento Municipal Utility District's attempt to expand into PG&E's territory in eastern Yolo County.

Rex Babin is the political cartoonist for The Bee. You can see a collection of his work here.

GOP Senate frontrunner Carly Fiorina planned to vote at 10:30 a.m. today at her local polling place in Los Altos Hills, do a little phonebanking in Orange County and go to the Anaheim Hilton tonight to celebrate with the California Republican Party.

Fiorina was scheduled to vote at Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, according to her campaign. She's due in Tustin at 3 p.m for the phone work. Tonight she will make remarks in Anaheim after the outcome of the election is determined.

Former Republican Rep. Tom Campbell was scheduled to hold a meet-and-greet with voters in Palo Alto at 12:30 p.m. He plans to gather with supporters at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose at 7 p.m. tonight. He voted earlier by absentee ballot.

A third GOP candidate, state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, planned to vote at 10 a.m. at the Brywood Elementary School in Irvine. He has scheduled a "DeVore for California Victory Party" at 8 p.m. in Tustin.

Fiorina, a 55-year-old millionaire, had led in most recent polls leading up to Election Day. She spent the most money in the race and surged ahead of Campbell in May after launching a statewide advertising blitz.

Gubernatorial candidates Steve Poizner and Jerry Brown plan to spend Election Day morning voting at their local polling places, while Meg Whitman will wait to make an appearance until tonight.

Her campaign said she'd already voted by absentee ballot last week and will spend most of today in Southern California. She's holding a victory party tonight at the Hilton hotel in Universal City.

Her main Republican rival Poizner, on the other hand, will dash around the state today.

He's scheduled to vote at the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters at 9 a.m., visit his campaign's phone banks in Torrance and San Marcos and end up at an election night party at the Hilton hotel in Irvine.

Democrat Brown is scheduled to vote at Oakland Fire House 6 at 7:30 a.m. and end the day at a party at Club Nokia in downtown Los Angeles.

Whitman and Poizner, currently serving as state insurance commissioner, spent much of the spring battling for the hearts of the most conservative voters in the state Republican primary. Poizner emphasized illegal immigration in his television advertising, while Whitman attacked him as just another "liberal Sacramento politician."

If Whitman's lead in late polling holds, the billionaire former CEO of online auction firm eBay will square off in the Nov. 9 general election against Brown, who faced no serious opposition in Tuesday's primary vote.

Election Day has finally arrived, with polling places across the state opening at 7 a.m.

Catch all the latest election news and track the results at Capitol Alert and The Bee's Election Blog. We'll also be posting updates on the Capitol Alert Twitter feed.

Turnout could hit an all-time low for a gubernatorial primary, according to an analysis released today by The Field Poll.

With little to no competition in the Democratic gubernatorial and U.S. Senate contests, Field is estimating that about one-third of the nearly 17 million Californians registered to vote will cast a ballot in this election. The current record low turnout was in 2006, when 33.6 percent of registered Californians voted.

The poll is also predicting that 53 percent of votes will be cast by mail, which would mark the first time a majority of votes in a gubernatorial contest came from absentee ballots.

Colleague Jim Sanders has more on turnout predictions in today's Bee. See statistical tabulations prepared exclusively for Capitol Alert here.

Don't forget to take your stab at our election quiz for your chance to win a $25 gift card to a coffee shop. Entries are due at 11:59 a.m.

BUDGET: Election Day doesn't mean an end to business at the Capitol. The Budget Conference Committee is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. to discuss funding for public safety.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman made another north-to-south sweep of the state today to thank volunteers for their work and to shoot some rhetorical darts at Democratic candidate Jerry Brown.

Whitman's campaign said she'd already voted by absentee ballot last week and will spend Election Day in Los Angeles. The candidate had been expected to vote near her house in Atherton tomorrow morning.

Big spending hasn't translated into big leads for the campaigns for two ballot measures up for vote in tomorrow's primary, according to a SurveyUSA poll released today.

The phone survey of 1,250 Californians who either have voted already or plan to vote found that voters are still split on Propositions 16 and 17, two measures that have pit well-financed support campaigns against relatively cash-strapped opposition efforts.

Pacific Gas & Electric, has poured about $46 million into its campaign for Proposition 16, the constitutional amendment that would require two-thirds voter approval on proposals for a public utility to expand services to new customers or new territories using public funds or bonds.

That's more than 460 times the cash raised by opponents and nearly two-thirds of the total money raised for and against measures on the June ballot.

Still, the poll found that while 41 percent said they were certain they would vote yes on Prop 16, 45 percent were certain they would vote no and 14 percent were undecided.

On Proposition 17, the Mercury Insurance-bankrolled measure to allow auto insurers to consider a motorist's coverage history in determining rates, 43 percent said they were certain they would vote yes, 39 percent certain they would vote no and 18 percent undecided. Mercury has funded the measure to the tune of $16 million. Opponents in that race have collected about $1.5 million.

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore is running last in the polls, but he figures there's a way he might actually eke out a victory in Tuesday's GOP Senate primary.

"I think it all comes down to turnout," DeVore told reporters during a conference call this afternoon.

And if turnout is low, as expected, DeVore said it could help him because his supporters are passionate.

"Voter intensity is key," he said.

The DeVore campaign is trying to increase turnout today by having its volunteers work on making calls to prospective voters. They're expecting to make 180,000 calls by Tuesday.

DeVore is trailing former businesswoman Carly Fiorina and former Rep. Tom Campbell, but he's sounding upbeat.

Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, isn't happy to see his face and words gracing last-minute mailers in the race to replace him in the state Assembly.

Jones, who is termed out and running for insurance commissioner, has been used in mailers sent by two of the five Democrats seeking his seat -- Sacramento Board of Supervisors member Roger Dickinson and Sacramento City Councilman Kevin McCarty.

One issue -- Jones hasn't endorsed Dickinson or McCarty. In fact, he hasn't publicly endorsed any candidate running in the primary.

Jones issued a statement clarifying his position over the weekend, but stopped short of calling on the campaigns to stop using or retract the mail pieces.

"I have not made an endorsement of any of the candidates in the race to succeed me to represent the 9th Assembly District (Sacramento)," Jones said in a statement. "I have also not authorized the use of my photograph by any of the campaigns to elect a representative to the 9th Assembly District. I have not been shown campaign mailers of any of the candidates prior to their public release nor have I approved of or participated in the preparation of campaign mailers by any of the campaigns for Assembly District 9."

With just over 24 hours until the polls open for the June 8 primary, candidates are scrambling to get in some last-minute campaigning.

Of course, the weekend was filled with stumping, too.

Former Gov. Pete Wilson and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney joined frontrunner Meg Whitman on the trail in Fullerton.

Her chief rival Steve Poizner talked about his opposition to same-sex marriage at a stop in Norwalk.

So who will be eligible to cast ballots tomorrow?

The Secretary of State said Friday that 16.9 million Californians have registered to vote -- up from 15.6 million voters just before the 2006 primary.

Of course, fewer than a third of voters typically participate in statewide primaries. Turnout in the June 2008 primary, for instance, was 28.2 percent.

By Rob Hotakainen

An upbeat Carly Fiorina dropped by the Gold River Community Center on Saturday and placed a call to voter Grant Deary of Sacramento.

"We're gonna win on Tuesday, thanks to voters like you," she told Deary. "And then we're going to go on and defeat Barbara Boxer in November. Wouldn't that be great?"

Fiorina, the former head of Hewlett-Packard, is on a last-minute swing of California cities before GOP voters select their Senate nominee on Tuesday. A Field Poll released Friday showed her leading her main challenger, former Rep. Tom Campbell, by a 37 percent to 22 percent margin, which was buoying her spirits.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she told cheering supporters who were making phone calls to voters on her behalf. "Keep calling. Every call, every vote counts. And with your help, we'll have a helluva party on Tuesday night."

Referring to recent polls, Fiorina told reporters that she's "opening up a substantial lead" but taking nothing for granted against Boxer.

Sounding a cautionary note, she told one supporter: "She's been there 28 years, which means a lot of folks have gone up against her and lost. It's important to have someone who can win."

Fiorina described Boxer as a big tax-and-spend liberal who is out to kill jobs by promoting legislation that would put mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions.

"This is a woman who has been described as among the most liberal, the most partisan members of the U.S. Senate," she said. "And even Dianne Feinstein votes different than Barbara Boxer most of the time."

Boxer has also campaigned in the state this week, responding that Fiorina is trying to distract attention from her controversial record as CEO of Hewlett-Packard.   

Carly Fiorina has a 15-point lead on Tom Campbell in the final days of the GOP Senate primary.

The poll found Fiorina has the support of 37 percent of GOP primary voters, with 22 percent of respondents backing Campbell. Irvine Assemblyman Chuck DeVore came in a close third with 19 percent support, with 20 percent still undecided.

Forty-two percent of GOP respondents said Fiorina was the best bet for defeating Democratic U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer in the fall, with Campbell and DeVore polling at 22 percent and 12 percent, respectively.

That could be a blow to Campbell's recent pitch that he's better poised to beat Boxer, a claim he made based on the results of hypothetical match-ups in the recent USC-LA Times poll.

The poll surveyed 511 likely GOP primary voters between May 27 and June 2. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

Click here for the poll results and statistical tabulations prepared exclusively for Capitol Alert. Colleague Rob Hotakainan has more on the poll in today's Bee.

IMAGE: U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina speaks to reporters at the Sacramento Bee Capitol Bureau in Sacramento on March 26. Randall Benton/SacBee.

Steve Poizner may be trailing rival Meg Whitman by 26 points in today's Field Poll, but he's got "America's Toughest Sheriff" on his side.

Poizner, who has made cracking down on illegal immigration a central focus of his campaign, announced today the endorsement of an Arizona law enforcement official championing Arizona's new immigration law: Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Arpaio who bills himself as "America's Toughest Sheriff," called Poizner a "staunch supporter of Arizona's illegal immigration law."

"I have witnessed firsthand the effect that this law has had on curbing illegal immigration in our state in its early stages, and I believe that as governor, Steve Poizner would enact a similar law to secure California's borders," the sheriff said in a statement. "Steve Poizner will be tough on illegal immigration, and California and Arizona must work together to fix this problem once and for all."

The endorsement also comes a day after the Los Angeles Times reported on a document showing that Poizner, who has pledged to cut services for undocumented immigrants, responded in a 2004 survey that he would oppose limits on using state funding for abortion and prenatal care services for undocumented women.

PHOTO CREDIT: Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio speaks to participants of the Border Security Expo on April 29 in Phoenix. John Moore/ Getty Images

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer set her targets this afternoon on her potential Republican rival Carly Fiorina after speaking to hundreds of people gathered at a conference of the nonprofit Urban Land Institute in Hollywood.

At a press conference after the speech, Boxer responded to Fiorina's latest TV ad criticizing her for focusing on global warming at the expense of national security.

"She's picked a fight with the entire military establishment," Boxer said of Fiorina. "And the military, the intelligence officials, people like John Warner, a war hero, a Republican, have stated unequivocally that in fact climate change is going to be the cause of wars over the next 20 years if we don't do something about it."

Boxer added that Fiorina was trying to distract attention from her record as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, when the company sold products to Iran despite U.S. laws prohibiting trade with the country.

"What she's doing is the oldest trick in the book," Boxer said. "She's very weak on terrorism because when she was CEO of Hewlett-Packard, they traded with Iran."

The California Voter Foundation has added up the cash collected to support and oppose the five propositions on the ballot next week, finding that the campaigns have racked up a combined $69.7 million.

Nearly two-thirds of that cash came from Pacific Gas & Electric, which has poured $46 million into the campaign for Proposition 16, a constitutional amendment that would require two-thirds voter approval on proposals for a public utility to expand services to new customers or new territories using public funds or bonds.

"PG&E's spending to support Prop. 16 has eclipsed all other proposition spending this election season," the foundation's president, Kim Alexander, said in a statement.

To put the big-dollar blitzes in perspective, the combined total raised for the ballot measures is about $10 million less than what GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman had blown through as of the last reporting period.

The foundation has compiled a list of the top donors for each measure here. You can find all campaign finance reports at the Secretary of State's website.

Chris Kelly poured another $2.45 million of his personal funds this week into his campaign for attorney general.

The donation raises Kelly's personal contribution to more than $12 million in his bid to replace Jerry Brown as California's top law enforcement officer.

Kelly raised millions for his campaign by selling stock options he owned from Facebook, for which he worked as legal counsel and chief privacy officer for five years, ending in March.

Kelly has six opponents in Tuesday's Democratic primary: San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris; former Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo; Assemblymen Ted Lieu of Torrance, Pedro Nava of Santa Barbara, and Alberto Torrico of Newark; and employee rights attorney Mike Schmier.

PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Kelly speaks to the Bee Capitol Bureau on April 7. Hector Amezcua/hamezcua@sacbee.com

With just four days until the polls open, GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman leads rival Steve Poizner by a 2-to-1 margin among likely Republican voters, 51 percent to 25 percent

Whitman's current 26-point lead is about half of the 49-point lead Whitman held over Poizner in the March Field Poll, but polls in recent weeks had shown the race narrowing, with Whitman up just nine points in a Public Policy Institute of California poll.

The survey of 551 voters who either have already cast their ballot by mail or plan to vote in the Republican primary next Tuesday was conducted May 27-June 2. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

Jack Chang reports in today's Bee that Field poll director Mark DiCamillo attributes Whitman's big lead to voters' perception that she has a better shot at winning against presumed Democratic nominee Jerry Brown come November.

"If you believe Whitman has the better chance, you'd be more likely to support her," DiCamillo said. "When you're looking at Poizner's numbers, he has not been able to attract support among the target populations he was trying to go after. And that's a large part of why he's trailing so badly."

But it ain't over until the polls close Tuesday, and both candidates continue to campaign hard.

Poizner plans to attend a noon rally in Chico before joining phone bank volunteers in San Jose. Whitman will spend the day calling in for interviews with radio programs.

Click here for the full poll results. Don't forget to check out The Bee's GOV2010 page for all the latest information on the gubernatorial contest.

SENATE2010: Carly Fiorina plans to swing by phone banks in San Diego and Palm Desert. Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, is at the U.S.-Mexico border to talk about immigration.

STATE SALARIES DATABASE: Sacbee.com's database of California state employee salaries now has a new feature: Search by agency and immediately see the highest paid employees at www.sacbee.com/statepay.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman pressed her smaller-government, lower-taxes message to receptive retirees at a toasty Roseville rally this afternoon.

The Sun City Timber Creek Lodge event struck the kind of themes resonating with Republican voters this year: Government needs to seriously shrink. It needs to be more technologically efficient. And the next governor must cut taxes and government regulation to release the private sector's job creation potential.

After a warm introduction by Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association President Jon Coupal, Whitman said, "We don't have revenue problem in California, we have a spending problem of epic proportions. I've never seen anything like it in my 30 years in business."

And a little later: "You'll not find a stauncher defender of Prop 13 than me. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association ... said Meg Whitman is the only candidate that we believe Howard Jarvis himself would trust to defend Prop 13."

GOP U.S. Senate hopeful Tom Campbell, now trailing opponent Carly Fiorina in some polls, has gone back on the air in the final days of the primary.

Campbell had pulled his television spots earlier this week, the Los Angeles Times reported. The ad resurgence comes as Fiorina appears to be widening a lead in the final week before the June 8 election. Two recent polls have given her a roughly 15-point edge on Campbell.

Campbell's spot hinges on the results of a recent USC-LA Times poll, which showed Campbell the only candidate beating Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in a hypothetical general election match-up. The poll, which gave Fiorina a 15-point lead, also found that Campbell would beat Boxer, 45-38. Boxer beat Fiorina in the hypothetical match-up 44-38.

The 30-second spot, which you can watch below, will air statewide on cable and in select broadcast markets, including Los Angeles, through Tuesday, a campaign spokeswoman said.

Meanwhile, the Fiorina and Boxer camps have been trading blows on Fiorina's new ad attacking the three-term senator. The Mercury News has more on that here.

Two Democrat-backed groups formed to back Jerry Brown and oppose Republican Meg Whitman in the gubernatorial race announced today that they will join forces and combine resources ahead of the general election.

The Democratic Governors Association, which had launched the anti-Whitman California Accountability Project is joining the effort of California Working Families for Jerry Brown for Governor, a committee backed by labor unions including California Professional Firefighters, SEIU State Council and the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California.

"Now, as the primary draws to an end, we must turn our focus to ensuring Democrats take back the California governorship. No other candidate is better equipped to handle the priorities of California's working families in today's tough economic reality than Jerry Brown," DGA Executive Director Nathan Daschle said in a statement.

California Working Families has not reported any contributions in campaign filings, though organizers have said they plan a budget of $20 million to $30 million. The DGA fund reported $147,000 cash on hand when it filed its state campaign finance report last week.

A source affiliated with the Working Families campaign said the group has secured more than $12.5 million in commitments and plans to run a "very aggressive" $26 to $34 million campaign this summer.

UPDATE: 1:36 p.m.: The California Federation of Teachers also announced today that it would come on board with the Working Families effort.

"Jerry Brown is the right choice for California's teachers, support staff and students," said CFT President Marty Hittelman said in a statement. "No other candidate is better equipped to understand and deal with the issues facing education in California. Meg Whitman has already pledged to corporatize and shrink educational opportunities in California and we will not let that happen."

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner said today in Upland that as governor he'll make sure state contractors and subcontractors aren't hiring illegal immigrants.

Poizner said he'll use the federal e-verify system to ensure that. He also said he'll end the state's relationship with any contractor found to be hiring illegal immigrants.

Poizner will hold a press conference with Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich this afternoon to condemn the board of supervisors' move to boycott doing business with the state of Arizona over its law requiring police check the immigration status of people they've stopped if they suspect they're here illegally.

"All they've done in Arizona is made it illegal to be illegal," Poizner told a small group in Upland just now.

Photo: GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner speaks in Upland on June 2, 2010. Credit: Jack Chang/Sacramento Bee

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner might be down in the polls, but he can still fire up his conservative base, like he did tonight at the Villa Park community center.

The clearly conservative audience asked him a flurry of questions that went down the checklist of right-wing hot topics.

How did Poizner feel about an Assembly bill prohibiting people from carrying unloaded handguns in public?

He said he was against it, adding, "People have the right to own and bear arms and I will fight for people's right to do that." He added that he would repeal AB 962, which would, among other things, require people buying ammunition be fingerprinted.

How about the idea of a global government? Poizner said he was against it.

And abortion? He said he wanted to drive the number of abortions performed down to zero although he didn't mention he was, in fact, pro abortion rights.

What about the lieutenant governor's race?

Lieutenant governor hopefuls Janice Hahn and Gavin Newsom are bringing their SoCal vs. NorCal battle for the Democratic nomination for the post to the airwaves.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn's ad features a familiar face for Angelenos -- her late father Kenneth Hahn.

"In 1962 Martin Luther King Jr. made his first trip to Los Angeles and only one elected official -- Kenny Hahn -- had the courage to meet him. Today, his daughter Janice Hahn carries on the fight for equality and opportunity for all Californians," the ad says.

Hahn's family has for decades dominated city and county politics. Kenneth Hahn, also a former council member, served on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for 40 years. Her brother is former Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn, who also served as city attorney.

The 30-second ad, which you can watch here, began airing today, largely in Southern California media markets, the campaign said.

Hahn's main rival, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, has also unveiled a TV ad this week.

Newsom's 30-second spot touts his environmental record as mayor of San Francisco, saying he has used "equal parts innovation and inspiration to help create one of the greenest cities on earth."

Watch his ad here.

Bee colleague Susan Ferriss contributed to this report.

"Take Back Sac" went mano a mano with "Meg for Queen" at high noon Tuesday, as about 50 protesters from the California Nurses Association and the California School Employees Association disrupted an outdoor rally by Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman.

The site of the clash was the parking lot of the Asian Garden Mall in Westminster, where Whitman addressed about 150 people, many of them from the city's giant Vietnamese community.

While the unions have showed up before at several Whitman events, the open-air location of Tuesday's rally gave the protesters a rare chance to get in the candidate's face. A bus adorned with the words "Queen Meg" also drove -- slowly -- many times around the block.

Whitman delivered an abbreviated version of her standard stump speech while flanked by large signs reading "Take Back Sac." Or at least she tried to. About 30 yards away, from the sidewalk of Bolsa Avenue, the protesters chanted, blew whistles and did everything they could to drown out Whitman's speech.

Jerry Brown, Democrats' presumed gubernatorial nominee, is joining Republican hopefuls Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner on the California airwaves.

Brown's campaign has released its first 30-second TV ad, though it is not yet clear when and where the spot will air.

Brown, who pledged "no mudslinging" in the race, attacks his GOP opponents for the blows they've traded during the GOP gubernatorial battle, claiming that 100,000 negative ads have been aired.

"It's no secret that Sacramento isn't working today. Partisanship is poisonous. We need to work together as Californians first," the 72-year-old attorney general says in the spot.

Brown, who has no major opponents in the Democratic primary, has so far been much more frugal than his GOP counterparts. His campaign reported $20.6 million cash on hand as of the last campaign finance filings, having spent about $320,000. That's less than 1 percent of what GOP front-runner Whitman has spent on her primary bid in the past two months alone.

Watch the ad below:

UPDATE: Both GOP campaigns fired off responses to Brown's new ad:

From Whitman spokesman Tucker Bounds:

"We got a kick out of Jerry's latest stunt, which will never actually run on TV. It's just too funny to see a 40-year Sacramento insider complain about the political climate he's helped create. Jerry's new blue sweater can't cover up his record of fighting to defend the status quo in Sacramento."

And Team Poizner Rapid Response Director Matt Hirsch:

"Just like Jerry Brown's failed tenure as governor, this ad looks like it was produced in the late 1970's. Steve Poizner has been offering specific plans to fix California for the past year, while Jerry Brown has sat on the sidelines coddling the unions that are bankrupting California. Voters are not looking to be led back down the broken path that Jerry Brown dragged them through 30 years ago, they are looking for a reformer and that is exactly what Steve Poizner will offer in November.