The Alameda County Republican Party is hosting a nomination acceptance speech watching party at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 4, in its Pleasanton campaign headquarters, 4637 Chabot Dr. Suite 102; if you want to help them phone-bank for John McCain, arrive at 5 p.m. Contact them at 510-638-3414 or info@alamedagop.org to let ‘em know you’re coming.

The Contra Costa GOP is having a party at 6 p.m. that night too, hosted by co-hosted by California Republican Party Vice Chair Tom Del Beccaro and Jeff Elfont. RSVP to Contra Costa Republican Party Executive Director Michael Caporusso at michael.caporusso@gmail.com or 925-930-9551 and he’ll tell you where it is.

Or, find a house party close to you.

Topping this week’s list of big ($25,000 or more) spenders on California campaigns and committees are the power utilities stepping up to oppose Proposition 7, which would require California utilities to procure half of their power from renewable resources by 2025: Rosemead-based Edison International and affiliated entities put up $3 million Monday (bringing its total so far to more than $13.7 million), and San Francisco-based PG&E Corp. and affiliated entities put up $1 million the same day (bringing its total so far to almost $13.9 million).

Equality California put up $1 million Tuesday (bringing their total so far to more than $6.5 million — $5.2 million from this committee and the rest from other affiliated PACs) to oppose Proposition 8, the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Palm Desert retiree Murray Kors (related to Equality California executive director Geoffrey Kors?) gave $25,000 Tuesday to oppose the measure. Meanwhile, in support of the measure, Irvine-based Fieldstead & Co. — the personal philanthropic organization through which banking heir Howard Fieldstead Ahmanson Jr. funds conservative causes — put up $100,000 Monday; Bosco Legal Services private investigator R. Scott Jones of Riverside gave $45,000 Tuesday; Intel Corp. finance specialist Richard Patterson of Folsom gave $40,000 Sunday; and Escondito homemaker Dran May-Reese gave $25,000 Tuesday.

Brooklyn, N.Y. retiree Bob Wilson put up $700,000 Tuesday in support of Proposition 5, which would expand state funding and oversight for treatment and rehab programs for nonviolent drug offenders and parolees while reducing criminal penalties and limiting courts’ authority to lock up offenders who violate probation or parole. And New York City financier George Soros, among the nation’s top drug-reform funders, gave $400,000 Thursday.

The Washington, D.C.-based Humane Society of the United States gave another $55,000 Tuesday (bringing its total so far to almost $3.42 million) to support Proposition 2, which would prohibit confinement of certain farm animals in ways that doesn’t let them turn freely, lie down, stand up and fully extend their limbs.

The California Correctional Peace Officers Association anted up another $250,000 Thursday to oppose Proposition 11, the legislative redistricting reform measure; the prison guards’ union previously had given state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata’s Leadership California Committee $602,000 with which to fight the measure, but this was its first donation directly to the “Citizens for Accountability - No on Prop. 11″ committee. The Democratic State Central Committee of California had given $75,000 to oppose the measure a day earlier. In support of Prop. 11, former state Senator Rebecca Morgan of Los Altos Hills gave $50,000 and Marketing Investors Corp. of Dallas gave $25,000, both Monday.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain’s pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate is fascinating any way you cut it.

Palin is extremely popular in her state, enjoying approval ratings that’ve ranged as high as 80 to 90 percent. In a state beset by other Republicans’ scandals, she has made ethics and earmark-slashing — even her fellow Republicans’ earmarks — the cornerstones of her administration. Palin opposes abortion choice; supports capital punishment; opposes same-sex marriage but issued a veto which effectively granted benefits to same-sex partners of state employees; and is a lifetime National Rifle Association member. She’s a mother of five, the eldest of whom is in the Army and scheduled to ship out to Iraq next month, and the youngest of whom was born just this April with Down syndrome.

However, the Alaska Legislature — where Republicans control the state House and a bipartisan coalition runs the state Senate — has hired an investigator to probe whether she or her aides improperly pressured the Public Safety Department to fire her ex-brother-in-law, a state trooper who’d been in a divorce and child-custody battle with the governor’s sister; Palin fired the department’s commissioner in July, but said it had nothing to do with her sister.

A chief GOP criticism of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama — who was a state Senator for seven years and now a U.S. Senator for less than four — is that he’s too inexperienced to be president. Yet McCain has picked a running mate who’s younger than Obama and whose experience consists of four years as a citycouncilman and six as mayor of a town of 6,700 people (roughly two-thirds the size of Emeryville for all us East Bay folks), and now less than two years as Alaska’s governor.

Clearly part of McCain’s calculus in choosing Palin is the hope that she’ll attract female voters — be they Democrats, independents or Republicans — who are still irked that Hillary Clinton didn’t win the Democratic nomination. And in trying to pull those Democrats and independents, he’s putting faith in the idea that gender will trump policy in these voters’ hearts and minds. Perhaps he’s also hoping that having a 44-year-old running mate will balance voters’ concerns about his own age (again, happy 72nd birthday, Senator).

The Draft Sarah Palin for Vice President blog — launched in late February 2007, less than three months after she was sworn in as governor — is beside itself with joy.

Thoughts, anyone?

Every presidential campaign brings an avalanche of marketing, and this one’s no exception.

Some of it’s not bad, actually. It’s hard not to get a chuckle out of “72 Things Younger Than John McCain” by Joe Quint and “ObamaMania: The English Language Barackafied” by the editors of Slate, both recently released by Simon & Schuster’s Fireside imprint. The former is a fantasia of stuff that has come into the world since McCain was born 72 years ago today (happy birthday, Senator!) — including penicillin, Spam, the ZIP code, latex paint, the Slinky and 49 out of 50 U.S. governors — and the latter is a lexicon of Obama-inspired terminology — including the Barackolyte (”a devotee of the Dalai Lobama”) and Obamamatopoeia (”an excellent Barack Obama impression”). Neither book requires undue brain power, and neither is meant to: With McCain cracking wise about his own age and with Obama inspiring new heights (depths?) of rhetorical devotion, these books feel lightly amusing without being mean-spirited. (As I’ve blogged earlier, I have no patience for political humor based solely on partisan spite.)

Some of the marketing involves building a brand rather than selling a product. I got an e-mail yesterday from Chicago PR firm BIGfrontier announcing its recipe for the Obama Baracktail, “a red, white and blue cocktail designed specifically to celebrate Barack Obama’s official announcement as the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. BIGfrontier is known for having developed the K’Tini, a wildly popular martini based on a marinated sauerkraut stuffed olive that reinvigorated the entire category of sauerkraut.”

(Note to self: “Reinvigorated Sauerkraut” is a good name for a band.)

The Baracktail recipe: two ounces of white Puerto Rican Rum (”signifies unifying every part of our country”); half an ounce of pomegranate juice (”signifies a healthy America”); and half an ounce of cherry juice (”signifies a sweetened economy”), shaken with one teaspoon of foaming sugar (?!?) and two ounces of club soda, poured into a frozen glass (”signifies Chicago”) and garnished with a skewer of blueberries.

Um, I’ll just have a rye Old Fashioned, thanks.

Said BIGfrontier honcho Steve Lundin: “We were thinking of developing a cocktail to commemorate George Bush’s last day in office, but couldn’t find ingredients that left a bitter enough aftertaste.”

Zing!

And from the low end of the political marketing spectrum comes Obama Rocks.

Yes, rocks. With the Obama logo on them. For $6.99 each.

This is the brainchild of “two fifty-something sisters (one from Palm Desert, California, one from Mt. Vernon, MO)” looking to make a quick buck, and possessed of a backyard full of Ozark jasper and chert.

“A few days later, an epiphany! The Obama Rock was born,” says the news release. “Not the indigenous Jasper rock, but a smooth-surface, patriotically designed ’species Obamarum rockus.’ It’s meant to be a lasting keepsake to commemorate a special time in American history.”

The California sister, Cheryl Glancy, says in the release, “I kept thinking that there was some kind of Divine intervention going on as to why I am still here in Missouri. Now I think I know.”

Me too, Ms. Glancy. Me too.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson:

2000 Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Al Gore:

And I’ll post Barack Obama’s presidential nomination acceptance speech as soon as I’ve got a clean clip…

UPDATE @ 9:23 P.M.: Here it is…

Stockton Mayor Ed Chavez, a Republican, has endorsed Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, for re-election over GOP challenger and Stockton resident Dean Andal.

The mayor of the 11th Congressional District’s largest city — also a 30-year Stockton Police veteran, including 10 years as chief — has been “impressed with what Congressman McNerney has done in his short tenure in office,” he said in McNerney’s news release.

“He’s back in California every weekend — in fact, it’s nearly impossible to spend a Saturday in Stockton without running into him,” Chavez said. “He’s committed to serving his constituents well by helping create family-wage jobs in renewable energy, bringing home federal funds for important infrastructure projects in our region, working to make sure veterans have access to services they’ve earned, and being open, available and accessible to members of our community. He puts the needs of his constituents first; that’s why he earns my endorsement.”

It’s the second hometown snub this week for Andal, a former Assemblyman and Board of Equalization member; McNerney was endorsed Tuesday by Dr. Everett Low of Stockton, who serves beside Andal on the board of the Lincoln Unified School District.

U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., moves to halt the roll call and nominate Barack Obama by acclimation:

Former President Bill Clinton:

2004 Democratic presidential nominee U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.:

And I’ll update with Joe Biden’s vice-presidential nomination acceptance speech — and his special unannounced guest — as soon as clean clips are available…

UPDATE @ 10:17 P.M.: Here we are:

Here’s presumptive Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden, speaking as a presidential candidate in May 2007 to the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco:

The moderator is Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, a senior research scholar at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University; adjunct senior fellow for alliance relations at the Council on Foreign Relations; founding senior adviser to the Stanford-Harvard Preventive Defense Project; and a 2004 Carnegie Scholar. She was deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia during the first Clinton administration (1994–96), and earlier yet was Biden’s chief foreign affairs and defense policy adviser.

I left her a few voice-mail and e-mail messages this week hoping to ask her a few quick questions about her former boss being tapped as Barack Obama’s running mate; somebody at Stanford just called to tell me she’s in Washington and Denver this week and so won’t talk to me. No phones or e-mail in D.C. or Denver? Or is it because she was more a fan of Hillary Clinton than of her former boss?

About 180,000 state workers might feel under the gun as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pursues his plan to cut their salaries to the federal minimum wage during the state budget impasse, but they can find solace in at least one place: Vacaville’s Nut Tree Theme Park, responding to the governor’s Executive Order S-09-08 with its own Executive Order F-U-N-08 issuing free unlimited ride passes state workers.

“The Nut Tree Theme Park recognizes the tough times that the state employees are encountering due to the state budget cuts,” the park’s news release says. “The Nut Tree Theme Park would like to reward all state employees for the great job they are doing with a free day of fun.”

State employees must present an employee ID or badge to get the free pass; family members accompanying them can buy the wristbands at 50 percent off. The offer is valid through Oct. 2.

No word on whether the Nut Tree offer extends to the governor himself. But in his bodybuilding days, Schwarzenegger was nicknamed “The Austrian Oak,” and oaks bear acorns, and acorns are nuts, and… oh, never mind.

Congressmen Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, and Dennis Cardoza, D-Atwater, announced yesterday that, at their invitation, the House Committee on Financial Services will hold a field hearing at noon Saturday, Sept. 6 in the Stockton Arena to examine the effects of the foreclosure crisis on neighborhoods in California’s Central Valley.

Witnesses including local elected officials, mortgage brokers, realtors, and HUD-approved housing counselors will testify on federal, state and local efforts to address foreclosure rates.

“Being in the Central Valley, it’s hard to avoid evidence of the foreclosure crisis, especially in Stockton and San Joaquin County. The number of foreclosures is startling and serves as an indication of the hardships many families are facing and the destabilizing effect in our communities,” said McNerney said in a news release. “I am happy to join with my colleague, Dennis Cardoza, in welcoming Chairman Frank and the Financial Services Committee for what I anticipate will be a productive and useful hearing about the effect of the foreclosure crisis and solutions moving forward.”

Among confirmed witnesses who’ll testify:

State Senate Banking, Finance and Insuance Committee Chairman Mike Machado, D-Linden

Realtor and Merced Mayor Ellie Wooten

HUD Sacramento Field Office Director Cynthia Abbot

Ambeck Mortgage Associates president Patty Amador

Pam Canada, District Manager, NeighborWorks HomeOwnership Center, Sacramento Region

Visionary Home Builders CEO Carol Ornelas

Freshman Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, is the House Financial Services Committee’s only Bay Area member.