( Matt Ortega )

It is the final stretch towards the June 8 primary and Meg Whitman spoke to the El Centro Chamber of Commerce. It is crunch time for the campaign but Whitman, the former eBay chief, drew a “half-empty” crowd

Meg Whitman’s lead over Steve Poizner in the GOP gubernatorial primary collapsed from 22 points to just two percent in less than three weeks. To date, Whitman spent nearly $60 million of her own personal wealth on the race. With the primary less than a month away, Whitman could experience one of the worst political collapses in the modern era

Republican gubernatorial hopeful Steve Poizner is under fire from school officials and students regarding comments he made in a forthcoming book, Mount Pleasant. Poizner, who spent a semester as a guest teacher at the school in 2002-2003, offered a derogatory nickname for the school, ”Mount Pregnant.” Students and teachers are outraged by the candidate’s attack on the school. NBC-affiliate in the Bay Area, NBC11, spoke with students and administrators at the school

The gubernatorial campaign of Meg Whitman paid $20,000 for advertising on the conservative blog, Red County, that another advertiser only paid $300 for the same ad space. Chip Hanlon, proprietor of the blog, recently fired a blogger found to receive payments from Whitman rival, Steve Poizner

Carly Fiorina defended and promised more of the wildly popular (and widely-mocked) “demon sheep” web video. Meg Whitman disavowed a supporter that proclaimed he was a “proud racist” and receives flack from the base for it. Steve Poizner backed a voter initiative that led to $40 billion in more taxes. Gavin Newsom leads Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor, and more

A campaign consultant, working on behalf of Meg Whitman, threatened to spend “$40 million-plus” to tear down Steve Poizner and offered to clear the Republican field for U.S. Senate in 2012 if the state’s insurance commissioner dropped out of the governor’s race.

The explosive allegations, if corroborated, threaten to upend Whitman’s campaign for governor

Carly Fiorina loaned most of the money she raised. Steve Poizner says polls don’t matter. Tom McClintock to endorse Richard Pombo. Abram Wilson, running for State Assembly again, says his city ”will have to do more with less,” and more

Tom Campbell will drop his gubernatorial bid and wade into the establishment-tea party primary fight between Carly Fiorina and Chuck DeVore for the party’s Senatorial campaign. Campbell has scheduled two news conferences to make the announcement: one at 9 a.m. in Los Angeles, the other at 2:30 p.m. at the San Jose Fairmont hotel, according

John Perez is the next Speaker of the Assembly and also the first openly gay official to hold the post. Arnold Schwarzenegger delivered his final State of the State address this week with the help of a former Reagan speechwriter. Contra Costa Times reporter Josh Richman liveblogged the event. In the speech, the governor outlined

Tom Campbell nears a switch from the governor’s race to make the Senate nomination fight a three-way struggle with Carly Fiorina and Chuck DeVore. Jerry McNerney joined several members of Congress that called on Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai to delay parliamentary elections until election reforms are in place. Police searched the business of Robert Beadles,