Making her move at juuust the right time, Jackie Speier is a shoo-in to fill Tom Lantos' seat by April 8 if she gathers a majority of votes in a special, pre-primary election. But first, according to the Merc: ...Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger must issue a declaration today that would allow the 12th Congressional District race to appear on the June 3 ballot. If he waits until after today, San Mateo County would have to......

Congressman Tom Lantos died this morning from esophageal cancer at the age of 80. He represented most of the Sunset, as well as a big chunk of San Mateo County. He was the only survivor of the Holocaust to be elected to Congress, and worked for years on human rights issues. That said, he ticked off quite a few people locally by supporting the Iraq war, although he had recently been pretty critical of the......

“I was shocked,” said Board of Supervisors Prez Aaron Peskin after being asked about Gavin Newsom's whereabouts this past weekend. Same here. Word is that Gavin was in Hawaii this past weekend, kicking in the sand and surf. Has senioritis kicked in already, Mayor? Not that you could've mopped up the oil singlehandedly, but still, you should have been here. We're a sensitive lot, us SF babies. Meanwhile Bevan was our acting mayor, and......

In an effort to crack down on people riding in the carpool lane without being in an actual carpool, State Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria) is asking you, the commuter, to pitch in and help. Mainly by snitching on people who are breaking the law, breaking the law. ...