Steve Maviglio

Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo sent out an advisory for a press event Thursday morning, saying she'd receive a formal endorsement from City Councilman Kevin McCarty. But before the event even happened, opponent Kevin Johnson's campaign poked a hole in it.

In the advisory for the event outside city hall, Fargo noted that McCarty's endorsement would mean that a majority of the eight-member council supported her bid for re-election, with four other council members scheduled to attend in a show of support.

Sacramento mayoral hopeful Kevin Johnson's campaign responded late Tuesday to Heather Fargo's criticism of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger over the lack of a state budget, saying she was joining that party too late.

"More than seven months after the Governor proposed slashing city funds, Mayor Fargo finally expresses her concerns. This is the same mayor who has repeatedly stood by Arnold's side at his press conferences," said campaign manager Steve Maviglio in an e-mail.

Sacramento mayoral hopeful Kevin Johnson will tap into his campaign manager's extensive contact list in the capital city for a fundraiser Monday.

The fundraiser will be co-hosted by Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) and Speaker Emeritus Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) at the home of Bob and Linda Naylor in midtown Sacramento.

With the Sacramento mayoral race now down to two candidates, expect the rhetoric, accusations and attention focused to keep escalating.

Incumbent Mayor Heather Fargo and challenger Kevin Johnson will square off to lead one of California's largest cities on Nov. 4, after neither one got enough votes in the June 3 primary to win outright in a field of seven.

Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo said she's focused on her campaign and a local ballot measure to create more funding for gang intervention, not responding to attacks from challenger Kevin Johnson's campaign.

"I tend to be direct, and I don't use a lot of spokespeople, unlike Kevin Johnson," Fargo said. "I'm not planning to spend a lot of time responding to his staff people."

The campaign manager for Sacramento mayoral challenger Kevin Johnson launched a war of words against incumbent Heather Fargo this week, charging that Fargo's campaign has co-opted the campaign theme Johnson used earlier this year.

Steve Maviglio, a veteran of Sacramento politics who joined Johnson's campaign last week, said Fargo's new theme of "Summer of Change" is the same "Summer of Change" theme

Johnson used in the lead-up to June 3, when Johnson received the most votes but not the majority needed to avoid a Nov. 4 runoff with Fargo. Several other mayoral hopefuls competed in that race.

Carly Fiorini and George W. Bush are both winners and losers this week. Find out why, and see the full list of this week's winners and losers: CLICK HERE

Sacramento mayoral candidate Kevin Johnson: Getty Images PhotoFormer Assembly Speaker press spokesman Steve Maviglio has been named campaign manager for Kevin Johnson's runoff race to be mayor of Sacramento.

Maviglio, who will take a leave of absence from his current position as Deputy Chief of Staff to Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles), will manage the campaign against incumbent Mayor Heather Fargo.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown: Getty Images PhotoCalifornia Attorney General and former governor Jerry Brown is still the prohibitive favorite for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2010, according to a new analysis by a political insider.

In a posting this week on the California Majority Report, longtime Democratic operative Steve Maviglio continued to list Brown in the top spot in his rankings of Democratic would-be governors, based on name recognition and measured steps Brown has taken to build support.