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(CNN) – San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced Friday that he was ending his gubernatorial bid.

"It is with great regret I announce today that I am withdrawing from the race for governor of California," he said in a statement. "With a young family and responsibilities at city hall, I have found it impossible to commit the time required to complete this effort the way it needs to – and should be – done."

Earlier this month, former President Bill Clinton had endorsed Newsom, running against California Attorney General Jerry Brown. Brown and Clinton were themselves primary rivals in the 1992 presidential campaign, when Clinton defeated the former governor in California's presidential primary.

Clinton weighed in on another Democratic primary race earlier this year, when he backed former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe's unsuccessful bid for the party's gubernatorial nomination in Virginia.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Carly Fiorina, a likely Republican candidate for Senate in California, made public on Tuesday what her GOP primary opponent Chuck DeVore has long claimed: that the national party is supporting her bid to take out Sen. Barbara Boxer next year.

"The chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee has encouraged me to enter the race, reaffirming my belief that Chuck DeVore can not beat Barbara Boxer," Fiorina said Tuesday, according to SanDiegoNewsRoom.com.

That remark elicited a swift I-told-you-so from DeVore, who for months has accused NRSC chairman John Cornyn of unfairly meddling in the Republican primary on behalf of Fiorina, the millionaire former CEO of Hewlett-Packard who was a frequent surrogate for John McCain during the 2008 presidential race.

"We know that the entire Fiorina campaign is predicated on a recruiting effort by the NRSC," DeVore told CNN. "They may have an official policy of neutrality, but I know why she's running. It's because she was recruited."

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(CNN) - One of the Republicans hoping to succeed California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger next year is claiming that the governor violated the state constitution by signing a bill recognizing out-of-state same-sex marriages.

Former Rep. Tom Campbell supports same-sex marriage and disagreed with the successful ballot initiative, Proposition 8, that put in place a constitutional ban on such marriages in the state.

But he opposes elements of the bill Schwarzenegger signed on Sunday, SB 54, which recognizes same-sex marriages performed in states other than California before November 5, 2008, when voters approved Proposition 8.

In an e-mail to CNN, Campbell wrote that the ban on same-sex marriage can only be modified by amending the constitution, as Californians voted to do last year. Schwarzenegger's action, he argued, "constitutes an unconstitutional attempt to do this by legislation."

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(CNN) - He used to get big numbers at the box office, but when it comes to his current approval rating as governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger is no blockbuster.

A new poll suggests that just over one in four California voters approves of the job Schwarzenegger is doing as governor of the Golden State, his lowest rating ever.

Twenty-seven percent of people questioned in a Field Poll released Tuesday morning give Schwarzenegger a thumbs-up, the first time in his nearly six years as governor that his approval rating has dropped below 30 percent. The survey also indicates that nearly two out of three voters, 65 percent, disapprove of Schwarzenegger's performance as California governor.

The moderate Republican is term-limited, and cannot run for re-election next year.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) - Rudy Giuliani will support former eBay CEO Meg Whitman's California gubernatorial bid, her campaign announced Wednesday.

Giuliani, a former Republican presidential candidate who is mulling his own run for governor in New York, called Whitman "simply the best person to lead our country's largest state."

"Meg's disciplined focus on creating jobs, cutting wasteful spending and improving education is the right course for California," Giuliani said in a statement. "I also believe that Meg Whitman can help reenergize the grassroots of the Republican Party."

The current California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is term-limited. Whitman will face State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and former Rep. Tom Campbell in the 2010 Republican primary.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman's appearance at a Virginia fundraiser this week for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell has been canceled.

McDonnell's campaign said the fundraiser, to be held at a private home in northern Virginia, was canceled last week because "scheduling reasons prevented it from happening." John Backus, a businessman who was scheduled to host the gathering and has known Whitman for years, said the fundraiser could not be postponed because his wife is giving birth, but he told the campaign to add his name to another area fundraiser later in the month. He said Whitman wouldn't be attending the re-scheduled event.

Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for Whitman, said the fundraiser was canceled because "our campaign has a scheduling conflict."

The calendar re-shuffling might be good news for Whitman, who is now seeking the GOP gubernatorial nomination in California and faces a potentially difficult three-way primary. After all, national Democrats have been eager to draw attention to McDonnell's controversial master's thesis that called working women "detrimental" to families, and they have skewered the Republicans who have journeyed to Virginia since the document was uncovered.

Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Bobby Jindal and Newt Gingrich have all been labeled conservative extremists by the Democratic National Committee for campaigning with McDonnell. On Monday, the DNC released a Web video with a warning for potential McDonnell surrogates: "You campaign with Bob McDonnell," the video cautions, "you're playing with fire."

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(CNN) – A former GOP official in California is dropping his endorsement of State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and will instead support his rival, eBay CEO Meg Whitman, in the state's Republican gubernatorial primary.

Bob Naylor, a former Minority Leader in the California State Assembly and a onetime chairman of the California Republican Party, said Tuesday that Whitman has a better chance of appealing to moderates and Democrats in the 2010 general election - if she can survive the Republican primary gauntlet.

"The party has to be able to attract more independents and minorities and women than we did in the last two election cycles," said Naylor, an attorney who served as state party chairman from 1987 to 1989. "I have to come to believe that she can attract more votes and independents and Democrats than Mr. Poizner. I think her story is more compelling than his."

Naylor told CNN he wrote Poizner a letter informing him of his decision three weeks ago, but never heard back.

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(CNN) – Two Republican statewide candidates in California are touting the results of a state GOP convention straw poll that showed conservative activists overwhelmingly rejecting the gubernatorial bid of former eBay CEO Meg Whitman and the likely Senate bid of former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina.

The campaign of gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner boasted about his 64-point victory over Whitman in Sunday's straw poll on their Web site and on Twitter. Senate candidate Chuck DeVore's campaign touted their own dominating win over Fiorina - 91 percent to six percent - in a campaign e-mail celebrating their success at this weekend's Fall convention in Indian Wells.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee then jumped on the news of Fiorina's loss as a sign of tension within the California Republican ranks, and shopped the poll results to Washington reporters.

One problem: There was no official straw poll at the California Republican Party Convention.

"We did not conduct a straw poll at this convention whatsoever," California GOP chairman Ron Nehring said in an e-mail.

So who did? An aide to DeVore - a state Assemblyman who has actively courted the party's conservative wing as he prepares to battle Fiorina for the Republican Senate nomination - acknowledged that Sunday's poll was engineered by the DeVore campaign, even though it was described as a "CRP straw poll" in an e-mail to supporters.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) – As former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina prepares to enter the 2010 California Senate race on the GOP side, her quirky new Web site is being ridiculed by the online community - and not just by those on the political left.

Republicans are also snickering about her bare-bones site, CarlyforCalifornia.com, which launched Monday and welcomes visitors with an animation describing a potential showdown between Fiorina and Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in curious terms.

"It's Day and Night," the bright red Web site reads. "It's Dogs and Cats. It's Good and Bad. It's Carly vs. Boxer."

After hinting that the Republican's official entry into the race is "coming soon," the animation concludes with a pun: "Carlyfornia dreamin!!!"

The left leaning Huffington Post called the site "really the most insufferable thing she's ever done in her life." Democrats on Twitter bashed the site as "embarrassingly awful" and told Fiorina to scale back her use of exclamation points. And a YouTube video mocking the site has so far eclipsed 15,000 views.

But several Web-savvy Republicans are also taking aim.

"It's the most singularly awful political website I have ever seen, and I am including all the old, basic HTML websites that were the rage 10 years ago," conservative blogger John Hawkins of the site RightWingNews.com said in an e-mail to CNN. "Why not toss in G.I. Joe vs. Cobra, Ninjas vs. Pirates, and Kennedy versus Kruschev if it's going to be a goofy joke? There's very little information on it to appeal to voters."

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WASHINGTON (CNN) – As former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina prepares to enter the 2010 California Senate race on the GOP side, her quirky new Web site is being ridiculed by the online community - and not just by those on the political left.

Republicans are also snickering about her bare-bones site, CarlyforCalifornia.com, which launched Monday and welcomes visitors with an animation describing a potential showdown between Fiorina and Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in curious terms.

"It's Day and Night," the bright red Web site reads. "It's Dogs and Cats. It's Good and Bad. It's Carly vs. Boxer."

After hinting that the Republican's official entry into the race is "coming soon," the animation concludes with a pun: "Carlyfornia dreamin!!!"

The left leaning Huffington Post called the site "really the most insufferable thing she's ever done in her life." Democrats on Twitter bashed the as site "embarrassingly awful" and told Fiorina to scale back her use of exclamation points. And a YouTube video mocking the site has so far eclipsed 15,000 views.

But several Web-savvy Republicans are also taking aim.

"It's the most singularly awful political website I have ever seen, and I am including all the old, basic HTML websites that were the rage 10 years ago," conservative blogger John Hawkins of the site RightWingNews.com said in an e-mail to CNN. "Why not toss in G.I. Joe vs. Cobra, Ninjas vs. Pirates, and Kennedy versus Kruschev if it's going to be a goofy joke? There's very little information on it to appeal to voters."

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) – Here come the California IOUs.

Unable to meet its bills for the second time this year, the state started printing IOUs on Thursday. Some 28,750 IOUs worth $53.3 million will be issued initially, mainly for personal income tax refunds.

The IOUs helps the state controller stave off a deficit of nearly $3 billion for July. The state plans to send the IOUs to certain county agencies, small businesses and taxpayers owed billions of dollars.

The state's fiscal condition is disastrous. Officials passed a budget in February, but declining tax revenues have opened up a $26 billion deficit.

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(CNN) - The field of candidates vying to succeed Arnold Schwarzenegger as California governor could grow today.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will announce this afternoon whether he's going to jump into the race. The mayor will make his news on exclusively on CNN's The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer at 4pm ET.

If Villaraigosa jumps in, he'll join San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who announced in April that he would run for Democratic nomination for governor in next year's election. California Attorney General and former governor Jerry Brown has indicated he plans to run as well, but he has not officially tossed his hat into the gubernatorial ring. Lt. Gov. John Garamendi may also join the contest.

"Villaraigosa is obviously very well known in Los Angeles and LA has the largest media market in the state," said CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider. "Ordinarily being a Latino would give Villaraigosa a large base of voters, but he may have to compete with Brown for some of those voters, particularly older ones, who were very loyal to Brown when he was governor back in the 1970's."

On the Republican side, although she hasn't officially announced her candidacy, former eBay executive Meg Whitman appears to be running governor. She would join former Rep. Tom Campbell and California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, who have officially announced their intentions to run for governor of California in 2010.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - As state officials warn California is on the brink of bankruptcy, state legislators are meeting trying to come up with their own way of closing the $24.3 billion deficit. Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last month proposed billions of dollars in cuts in education, health care, prisons and social services. But Democratic lawmakers have not lined up in support of the governor's solution. They, along with a variety of interest groups, argue slashing key programs is wrong because too many citizens would be hurt. Instead they are pushing such possibilities as new taxes on tobacco and oil extraction, short-term borrowing and taking money from a rainy day fund - all ideas Schwarzenegger has said he won't support.

"The bottom line for Assembly Democrats is that we are committed to ensuring that the state's fiscal emergency isn't allowed to be misused to eliminate the safety net in California or to eviscerate our public education system. We are working closely with the Senate and the governor to resolve the budget deficit by the end of the month to avoid a potential cash crisis," Assembly Speaker Karen Bass said in a statement last week.

The state's controller has said California will be out of money to pay its bills by the end of next month, and the governor says this is the time for hard choices because the state must get its fiscal house in order.

"I've heard accusations that I tried to shut down state government. I don't have to shut down state government because when they don't produce a budget on time we will run out of cash and therefore our government will shut down by itself," Schwarzenegger said Friday.

AIDS activists, unions and providers of senior services all have hit the streets in recent weeks to mount protests against the governor's proposed funding cutbacks.

For example, on the chopping block is $6 million for Alzheimer's research and more than $4 million in funding for adult care centers for those with the disease as well as nearly $500 million from programs for senior citizens.
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SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) – California's Supreme Court has upheld a ban on same-sex marriage that state voters passed in November, but allowed about 18,000 marriages performed before the ban to remain valid.

The split ruling was met with chants of "shame on you" from a crowd of about 1,000 people who gathered outside the court building in San Francisco.

"It's nice that my marriage is still intact, but that's not the point," Kathleen White, who married her partner in 2008, told CNN.

Opponents of the ban argued that the controversial Proposition 8, which state voters passed, 52 percent to 48 percent, in November, improperly altered the California constitution to restrict a fundamental right guaranteed in the state's charter. But the court - which had allowed same-sex marriages in a 2008 decision - found the measure was narrow enough to pass legal muster.

(CNN) - The Service Employees International Union is planning a new television ad to prod the administration to help derail dramatic proposed pay cuts for California's health care workers.

The spot, which will begin airing later this week, was first announced over Twitter on Monday by union president Andy Stern.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has called for the cuts, which would lower health care workers' wages to around $8 an hour, to help get the state's spending under budget. The White House had said the move could cost the state millions in health care-linked stimulus funding - but has since appeared to back off that threat, say union leaders.

The new ad will focus on the story of Pauline Beck, a home health aide candidate Obama famously joined for a day to highlight the challenges facing the nation's service workers. It is slated to begin airing the same day the president visits Los Angeles for a Democratic fundraiser.

OXON HILL, Maryland (CNN) – Newt Gingrich might want Nancy Pelosi to be replaced as Speaker of the House, but the Republican party chairman in Pelosi’s home state of California wants her stick around for just a little while longer.

“She helps me raise so much money on the phone and mail,” California GOP chairman Ron Nehring said Tuesday at a gathering of the Republican National Committee. “We love her.”

“We don’t like Harry Reid because nobody knows who he is,” he chuckled. “But we love Nancy Pelosi, because when you’re one of these Democrat leaders and your negatives are almost twice what your positives are, that’s just wonderful, wonderful news. It’s a great gift for us.”

According to a CNN poll released Monday, nearly half of all Americans - 48 percent - disapprove of how the California Democrat she is handling her job as Speaker of the House, while 39 percent approve of her performance.

Nehring said Pelosi should hang around until the next election.

“She should remain Speaker for every single day in 2010,” he said.

(CNN) – Voters in California went to the polls for a special election Tuesday to vote on budget measures designed to reduce the state's growing deficit, which has been called a "financial Armageddon."

Residents will weigh in on six different propositions - a mixture of tax changes, borrowing, reforms and shifting of funds - to determine the rigorousness of budget cuts for the next year.

If the propositions fail, the governor said he will have to make cuts to schooling and health care and would likely need to release a large number of inmates from the state's prison system.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Supreme Court sidestepped Monday the politically explosive debate over whether federal drug laws trump the use of so-called legalized "medical marijuana."

The decision leaves unclear how local districts must comply if a state law, passed by referendum, allowing the limited use of medical marijuana conflicts with the federal government's tough anti-narcotic stance.

The justices Monday rejected appeals from two California counties, which have balked at accommodating Proposition 213, which legalized cannabis for pain-suffering patients with a prescription.

At issue is whether the federal Controlled Substances Act - which prohibits pot possession for any purpose - supersedes state medical laws, when it comes to enforcement and liability for local districts. A California appeals court found federal oversight was limited since it was designed "to combat recreational drug use, not to regulate a state's medical practices."

If the Supreme Court ever decides to tackle the issue, observers believe the justices will likely insist the Obama administration weigh in with its views of the state-federal tug-of-war.

California is one of 13 states legalizing pot to be grown, distributed, sold and taken for personal "medicinal" use. Users include former television host Montel Williams, who has multiple sclerosis.

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