Get out your calendars and start scribbling:

Hillary Clinton presidential campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe — Democratic National Committee chairman from 2001 to 2005 and a noted FOB whom Al Gore once called “the greatest fund-raiser in the history of the universe” — will join state Treasurer Bill Lockyer and Democratic strategist Chris Lehane in headlining the 37th Annual Alameda County Democratic Unity Dinner tomorrow night (Saturday, Oct. 13) at the Oakland Airport Hilton; state Democratic Party chairman Art Torres will emcee.

Cocktails at 6 p.m., dinner at 7 p.m., all for the sum of $75 per person, $125 per patron or $750 per table in advance, though a few $85 door tickets will be in play, too; “unity” means “war chest.”

Lockyer, being from Hayward, is a fixture at Alameda County events, but McAuliffe ranks among the national party’s most effective fundraising heavy hitters. CNN has reported McAuliffe once wrestled a 280-pound alligator to collect $15,000 from Florida’s Seminole Indian tribe. Now he’s heading up a campaign for a candidate who at present is well ahead in the money race and in the polls.

And San Francisco-based Lehane — who helped the Clinton White House spin the Whitewater investigation, spoke for Al Gore on the 2000 presidential campaign trail and advised former Gov. Gray Davis during the 2001 energy crisis and 2002 gubernatorial campaign — with partner Mark Fabiani earned the sobriquet “Masters of Disaster” for an uncanny ability to spin public opinion even in the face of political crises, often by digging up dirt on embattled clients’ critics.

State Treasurer Bill Lockyer today announced that individual investors snapped up $102.8 million of $250 million in bonds during the first sale conducted under Proposition 71, the $3 billion stem cell research measure approved by voters in 2004.

The $102.8 million in purchases by individuals comprised 41.1 percent of the total, and more than tripled the amount expected by the Treasurer’s Office and its underwriting team, Lockyer’s office says. 18 institutional investors (such as mutual funds, banks or insurance companies) bought the balance of the $250 million during the sale that started Wednesday and ended today.

“The investment by individuals far exceeded our expectations and shows how strongly Californians believe in the promise of stem cell research to cure diseases and relieve suffering,” said Lockyer. “Proposition 71 paved the way for a new approach to finance biomedical research and the development of intellectual capital. This sale gets that endeavor off to a great start.”

Robert N. Klein, chairman of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine governing board and author of Proposition 71, said he believes many of the investors are patients suffering from debilitating disease or injury. “They’re making an investment in their future — not simply their financial future, but their future quality of life.”

The minimum buy-in for individual investors was $5,000, and interest earned on the bonds will be subject to federal income tax but not state income tax.The interest rate on the bonds will be 5.168 percent, which is 1.15 percentage points above today’s rate on three-year U.S. Treasury notes. The $250 million sale will provide the nation’s largest-ever State investment in human embryonic stem cell research –Lockyer noted the National Institutes of Health since FY 2002 has funded only $131 million worth of this research.

During her big rally this evening in downtown Oakland, Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton was talking about the progressive values she’d like to see California export to the rest of the nation when she praised the work of “Governor Newsom.”

“Uh, Mayor Newsom,” she corrected herself, as San Francisco’s mayor blushed and bobbed and the crowd… went… WILD. “That’s what he told me to say, and I guess I can see why,” Clinton quipped.

Newsom is, of course, among rumored Democratic gubernatorial contenders for 2010. Among the others is state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, who was onstage for Clinton’s slip of the tongue and just smiled dutifully.

“Treasurer Lockyer Announces Fundraising Drive to Benefit Bay Area Schools” said today’s news release, in which state Treasurer Bill Lockyer’s office announced that the ScholarShare Investment Board -– which oversees ScholarShare, the state’s 529 college savings plan — and the San Francisco Giants have partnered to sponsor 12 games at AT&T Park during the 2007 season, with proceeds from each benefiting a Bay Area school district.

“The California State Treasurer’s Office is fully committed to helping California schools and students,” said Lockyer. “This program gives school districts needed funds and lets students experience the thrill of professional baseball in one of the nation’s premier ball parks. I commend the Giants for teaming with ScholarShare, to give back to the community and invest in education.”

Here’s how it works: Each school district will buy a block of tickets from the Giants and then sell them at a discounted rate. For every ticket sold, Fidelity Investments, ScholarShare’s manager, will donate $5 to the district’s education foundation, up to a maximum of 300 tickets.

$5 by 300 tickets, let’s see, that’s… a maximum of $1,500 per district.

For context, consider that a first-year Oakland Unified School District teacher with no prior experience earned a salary of $38,777.60 in the school year ending now. $1,500 is better than nothing, but it’s not exactly going to move any mountains.

ScholarShare, by the way, lets Californians save for college by making after-tax contributions; the earnings grow tax-deferred, and the disbursements — when used for tuition and other qualified expenses — are federal and state tax-free, which is a pretty good idea whether or not America’s pastime is involved.

State Treasurer Bill Lockyer today launched a new Web site to help convince Californians to buy voter-approved bonds to build schools, housing, transportation systems, parks and flood control projects.

“This is a first-of-its-kind Web site and that’s part of an unprecedented campaign to invest in California, to help individual investors make a difference by investing in our state’s future,” Lockyer told reporters a few minutes ago.

Yep, we’re fixing up the state retail now.

Managed by Lockyer’s office, Buycaliforniabonds.com provides information on how individual California residents can get a head start over institutional investors by buying in special early-order periods; it has links to more than 70 broker-dealers who can place the buyers’ orders.

Remember, state voters in November approved $42.7 billion in bonds to improve the state’s infrastructure, quality of life and economy. Add that to $23 billion in general obligation bonds OK’ed in earlier votes, and $7 billion authorized last month for prison construction, and suddenly we’ve got an enormous wad of bonds to sell in the next few years, far in excess of what we’ve tried to move in the past.

This site’s launch comes in time to help Californians buy bonds during the early-order period — June 18-19 — for a $2.5 billion general obligation bond sale set for June 20. Investors can contact their brokers now and place orders to buy bonds within that two-day, pre-sale period. Institutional investors won’t get a shot at them until June 20.

“We’re expecting a very successful sale next week,” Mike Gomez of Citigroup’s public finance division, this sale’s lead underwriter, said this morning.

California sells bonds in $5,000 increments, as do most states. (If you’re counting, $63 billion divided by $5,000 equals 12.6 million.)

Deputy Treasurer Paul Rosenstiel said there’s no specific target the state aims to meet in terms of individual sales, but there are some benchmarks to help determine whether this campaign is working. In the state’s last bond sale, he said, about 7 percent went to about 1,000 individual buyers; in New York City, where officials run radio ads to drum up interest, about 25 to 30 percent of bond sales are to individual buyers.

And so Lockyer also today launches a $250,000 radio and newspaper ad campaign in the Bay Area and Central Coast to direct people to the new Web site.

The Supreme Court of California today declined to review a Court of Appeal ruling from February that upheld the constitutionality of Proposition 71, the 2004 ballot measure approved by 58 percent of voters that launched the state’s ambitious stem-cell research program. That means this litigation — which has kept the state from issuing $3 billion in bonds to fund research, though not from approving its first $158 million in grants — is done, done and done.

Said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who last year loaned the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine $150 million from the state’s general fund to pay for research while the bonds were in legal limbo: “Today’s action by the California Supreme Court is a victory for our state because potentially life-saving science can continue without a shadow of legal doubt. This decision reaffirms voters’ will to keep California on the forefront of embryonic stem cell research. California’s leadership gives the best promise of finding a cure for deadly and debilitating diseases.”

Said Treasurer Bill Lockyer, who chairs the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Finance Committee created by Proposition 71 to manage the bond sales: “The Supreme Court’s action gives complete legal vindication to Proposition 71 and long-overdue legal finality to California voters. It’s been two-and-a-half years since voters resoundingly expressed their belief in the promise of stem cell therapies to prevent and cure diseases that ravage lives and families. After losing at the polls, the opponents tried to thwart the people’s will in the courts. Fortunately, they have failed. Now that the legal battle is over, we can at long last move forward to solidify California’s place in the vanguard of this crucial scientific and public health movement.”

Said state Controller John Chiang, who chairs the Citizens Financial Accountability Oversight Committee that watchdogs how the CIRM spends its money: “I am pleased the Supreme Court has reaffirmed the voters’ will and ended the litigation that tied up the funding for California’s investment in stem cell research. California can now issue the $3 billion in bonds to fund and accelerate stem cell research, offering hope of potential life-saving medical discoveries. Today’s ruling will also help the state move quickly to foster opportunities in medical science and new technologies.”

Close on the heels of Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez’s endorsement Wednesday of U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., for president, a list of California Democrats topped by Treasurer Bill Lockyer and former Gov. Gray Davis announced the same Friday.

“I’m endorsing Hillary Clinton for President because I know her and admire her,” said Lockyer, who I remember seeing at Clinton’s fundraiser Feb. 23 in San Francisco. “She’s been my good friend and our state’s great ally for more than a decade. Nobody understands Californians, the California Dream, and the vital importance of California to our nation’s success better than Hillary Clinton. And Hillary Clinton is — far and away — the only candidate who is ready to lead the country now, without any on-the-job training.”

Said Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco: “Hillary is the most qualified candidate and is ready to lead this country from day one. Hillary knows the White House, Congress, and has the respect of world leaders. Most importantly, Hillary has been longtime advocate for the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, and I know that she will continue her commitment when she becomes president.”

Clinton will address the California Democratic Party’s convention at 10:15 a.m. tomorrow at the San Diego Convention Center.

A complete list of Friday’s Clinton endorsements, after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »

So Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been sworn in for a second term, but other state constitutional officers have yet to take their oaths. Here’s the when and where for them: