Playing the Field

With less than a week before Election Day, the Field Poll's numbers show Democrat Jerry Brown up 10 points over Republican rival Meg Whitman in the race for governor.

From the Bee's Jack Chang: "The nonpartisan survey also found Whitman's window for catching Brown is closing, as more than a fifth of likely voters already have mailed in their ballots. Brown's surge broke a statistical deadlock that has gripped the two candidates since March, when Whitman appeared to be winning over more Latino and female voters than Republicans usually do."

"That support washed away over the past month, however, as voters received an unvarnished view of the candidates in three televised debates, at Tuesday's women's conference and in their handling of surprise campaign controversies."

Whitman, hoping to close the gap, is banking on an all-out ground game, reports the Wall Street Journal's Stu Woo and Naftali Bendavid.

"Ms. Whitman, trailing in every poll, has rolled out a big get-out-the-vote operation, funded with part of the $162 million she has spent on the race so far. The effort is a particularly sophisticated version of voter-mobilization pushes candidates and parties are ratcheting up with less than a week before Election Day."

"Many candidates believe get-out-the-vote drives could hold the key to victory, especially in close races such as Senate contests in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Colorado, Washington and Illinois."

Meanwhile, Capitol Weekly's Jennifer Chaussee takes a look at the role of gender in the governor's race.

"But the stereotype that the Republican Party is male-dominated is turned on its head by the fact that a female candidate is now the GOP’s top nominee for the most important office in California."

"The Republican Party may not be known for emphasizing social issues, but it is known for finding its niche in economic issues. Talk of job creation has dominated this year’s gubernatorial campaign with scant reference to gender."

The races for governor and U.S. Senate may be drawing the bulk of the media's attention, but how 'bout that challenge to Rep. Laura Richardson down in Long Beach? CW's Malcolm Maclachlan tells the tale of Star Parker.

"In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Star Parker had a routine. She would drop her daughter off at a government-funded day care center, then head out to Venice Beach and do drugs all day. Then she’d come back and get her daughter in the afternoon"

"Three decades later, she’s a Sarah Palin-endorsed candidate for Congress. Parker runs her own four-employee foundation, frequently appears on television and is the author of three books and a syndicated column, currently suspended during her campaign.  She was a guest speaker at the Value Voters Summit last year, along with the likes of Mike Huckabee and Bill O’Reilly. And yes, she’s a black Republican."

And speaking of interesting people, the LA Times' Evan Halper has the remarkable story of Nicolas Berggruen, the homeless billionaire who is donating $20 million to reform California government.

"An eccentric, globetrotting multibillionaire who doesn't own a home in California — or anywhere, for that matter; he says he has little use for owning things — is about to breathe life into efforts to shake up Sacramento."

"Nicolas Berggruen will give at least $20 million to a group of Californians who long to restructure state government so it is more responsive to voters, more responsible with public funds and ready to reposition the state to meet the challenges of today's economy."

Although overshadowed on the ballot by the big-ticket races for governor and U.S. Senate, the two redistricting measures have profound implications for California's future. Capitol Weekly's John Howard reports.

"Howard Berman’s 28th Congressional District, increasingly Latino, narrowly escaped a court challenge in 2000 from angry Latinos who felt that political leaders had engineered an unfair redistricting. A challenge is all but certain to erupt this year, however, unless Michael Berman comes up with some creative map drawing or a deal is cut between Berman’s backers, the Latino forces and others."

"That deal may already have been reached, brokered by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Pacoima, Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes, D-Los Angeles, and Berman’s allies. Latino powerbrokers in the San Fernando Valley backed Berman’s former staffer, Bob Blumenfield, for Assembly in 2008. Speculation has swirled that, if left in the hands of the Legislature, it may be Rep. Brad Sherman, and not Berman, who is left without a district as a seat is carved out for Valley Latinos."

And finally we look in our "Tight Fit" file to see the Australian story of increasingly obese children getting so big they don't fit into their chairs at school. Hey, we didn't say this was a fun piece.

"Children have grown too big for their school chairs, a survey of 750 schools revealed. Teachers said "desk and chair sizes were often inappropriate".