John Eisenhut

After managing Assemblyman-elect Bill Berryhill to victory in the 26th district race, campaign manager Carl Fogliani will return to Sacramento as his chief of staff.

Fogliani, who was also chief of staff to Republican Berryhill's predecessor in the 26th, termed-out Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian (R-Stockton), said the move is a return to familiar territory.

To 26th Assembly District candidate John Eisenhut's campaign, the more than $272,000 received from the Democratic State Central Committee of California in the last four days is both much needed, and a sign that Democrats believe they can win the Central Valley seat.

The campaign for Eisenhut's opponent, Republican Bill Berryhill, sees it another way: As outsider support for a campaign that's got no traction locally.

Another spate of independent expenditures saw money spent by outside groups in all four closely watched state Assembly races in Northern California.

The California Labor Federation's Committee for Working Families made the biggest splash, spending $129,921 on unidentified field expenses this week in support of Democrat Alyson Huber in her 10th Assembly District race.

Joan Buchanan received an endorsement in her Assembly race Saturday from one of the most consistently popular politicians in California.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-San Francisco) endorsed Buchanan, a Democrat, over Republican Abram Wilson, the mayor of San Ramon. Buchanan is a school board member from Alamo.

The Police Officers Research Association dropped $30,000 into three heavily contested Assembly races Thursday, twice to benefit the Democratic candidate and once in favor of the Republican.

In Assembly Districts 10 and 15, the group spent $10,000 each to support respective Democrats Alyson Huber of El Dorado Hills and Joan Buchanan of Alamo with a slate mailer of suggested candidates to back.

Independent expenditure groups continued to spend considerable amounts of money Wednesday in four hotly contested Northern California Assembly races, with Democrats the beneficiaries in all four and Republicans receiving support in two races.

Leading the list was the Peace Officers Research Association of California, which spent $40,000 each to support Democrats Alyson Huber and Joan Buchanan in Assembly Districts 10 and 15, respectively.

Independent expenditures in several closely contested state legislative races will get a close eye from the California Fair Political Practices Commission between now and Nov. 4

The commission will post online a daily tally of how much independent expenditure committees are spending in those races, and who's contributing to those committees.

Assembly candidate Bill Berryhill has received endorsements from the National Federation of Independent Businesses and the Modesto Chamber of Commerce in his 26th district race.

The executive director for NFIB/California said in a press release that Berryhill was the right candidate to help small businesses start, develop and grow.

Democratic candidate John Eisenhut said he believes there are "signs" of something odd happening in the race for the 26th Assembly District seat. Eisenhut is running against Bill Berryhill, a Republican from Ceres.

Late last week, Eisenhut's campaign received three to four calls from voters who said they'd received "Democrats for Berryhill" lawn signs, but didn't know Berryhill was a Republican.

Democrats gained registration in some closely watched legislative and congressional districts in Northern California but lost registration elsewhere, according to a 60-day report released Friday by the California Secretary of State.

The Sept. 4 report, timed to be 60 days before the Nov. 4 election, shows the percentage of registered Democrats up in two closely watched seats: Assembly District 15 and the 4th Congressional District.