he's got Hall of Famer former coach John Madden's fancy Goal Line Productions in Pleasanton lined up, the invitations are out, and you can mark the date: almost exactly a year until the 2010 election, and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina looks ready to officially enter the U.S. Senate race against Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer.

Our buddy Lisa Vorderbrueggen at the Contra Costa Times got the blast email from the Tri-Valley Business Council regarding a Nov. 6 event in Pleasanton touting an "important" announcement by author/businesswoman Fiorina.

So we got Tri-Valley's president and CEO Toby Brink on the phone to get the skinny: is it really the official Carly Campaign Debut?

"That is my understanding,'' he said. "They're being a bit coy about an announcement, but we're pretty sure we know what it is.''

Rumor has it Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett Packard CEO, will announce her candidacy for the Republican Nomination U.S. Senate in Orange County on November 4th.

Interesting choice being that she has little history here and she would be making the announcement in the backyard of her GOP primary opponent, Chuck DeVore.
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Pleasanton on the 6th?

The Senate health care legislation will include a government-run insurance plan, but states would be allowed to “opt out” of it, the majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, announced Monday afternoon.
Even though Mr. Reid has announced his intentions on the public option, the bill is not yet ready to bring to the Senate floor.

Pieces of the legislation will be submitted to the Congressional Budget Office for cost analysis. A number of senators in both parties have said that they will not vote on the bill unless they have had time to review a comprehensive cost estimate.

A government-sponsored "public option" for health care lives, though it may be more attractive to skeptics if it goes by a different moniker, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday.

In an appearance at a Florida senior center, the Democratic leader referred to the so-called public option as "the consumer option." Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., appeared by Pelosi's side and used the term "competitive option."

Both suggested new terminology might get them past any lingering doubts among the public—or consumers or competitors.

"You'll hear everyone say, 'There's got to be a better name for this,'" Pelosi said. "When people think of the public option, public is being misrepresented, that this is being paid for with their public dollars."

President Barack Obama has only been in office for just over nine months, but he's already hit the links as much as President Bush did in over two years.

CBS' Mark Knoller — an unofficial documentarian and statistician of all things White House-related — wrote on his Twitter feed that, "Today – Obama ties Pres. Bush in the number of rounds of golf played in office: 24.

Took Bush 2 yrs & 10 months."

This news comes on the heels of today's news that Obama played golf with a woman — chief domestic policy adviser Melody Barnes — for the first time since taking office.

One candidate in next year's gubernatorial race contributed thousands of dollars to Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer and John Kerry.

Another wrote $21,000 in checks to Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore and the Democratic National Committee in 2000.

A third was a registered Democrat in the early 1970s and has acknowledged supporting George McGovern as the party's presidential candidate in 1972.

All three – Meg Whitman, Steve Poizner and Tom Campbell – are vying to become California's next governor, but not as Democrats. They constitute the entire GOP gubernatorial field, a fact that has some Republicans wondering where their candidates' loyalties really lie.

Andrew Cuomo has secretly notified Rudy Giuliani that he will run for governor next year, The Post has learned.

The confidential message, conveyed through intermediaries, was delivered to Giuliani recently and is expected to play a central role in the former mayor's impending decision on whether to run as the Republican candidate for governor in 2010, sources with knowledge of the situation said.

The message confirms the widespread belief that state Attorney General Cuomo intends to challenge unelected Gov. Paterson in a Democratic primary if Paterson decides to run.
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Will Rudy next look at the Senate race? Run? Or simply retire from The Arena?

Conservatives continue to outnumber moderates and liberals in the American populace in 2009, confirming a finding that Gallup first noted in June. Forty percent of Americans describe their political views as conservative, 36% as moderate, and 20% as liberal. This marks a shift from 2005 through 2008, when moderates were tied with conservatives as the most prevalent group.