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The campaign manager for Charlie Brown's congressional campaign said claims of victory late Friday by the campaign for opponent Tom McClintock were premature.

State Sen. Tom McClintock's congressional campaign claimed victory Friday evening, saying the final vote count in Placer and Nevada counties gave the Republican a 1,793-vote lead that Democrat Charlie Brown can't overcome.

"There doesn't seem to be any way statistically he could do it," said Bill George, a spokesman for McClintock.

According to the Placer County elections Web site, McClintock received 85,357 votes there, to 81,850 for Brown. The percentages were 50.9 percent for McClintock to 48.8 percent for Brown.

SAN FRANCISCO - Opponents of Prop. 8, the ballot measure that will ban gay marriage in California, formally conceded defeat Thursday morning during a teleconference with reporters.

Geoff Kors, executive committee member of No on 8 campaign, said there was no way the campaign could make up the more than 500,000 'yes' votes that provided the controversial ballot measure its margin of victory.

SAN FRANCISCO - Election Central for the Bay Area was the Westin St. Francis Hotel Tuesday night when a large crowd, ostensibly waiting for the results of the much anticipated Prop. 8, broke out in sustained thunderous applause at 8 p.m. PT when CNN announced that Barack Obama had surpassed the needed 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.

With Golden State polls just closing, observers were saying it could be late into Tuesday or perhaps early Wednesday before the fate of the ballot measure, which if passed would ban gay marriage in California, would be known.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom labeled the claims in the Yes on 8 campaign's first TV ad released Monday as "absurd" and added that the commercial -- which uses phrases from one of his own speeches against him -- was merely an attempt to "distract" voters from the harm the measure would cause if passed in November.

In a statement provided to PolitckerCA.com late Monday, Newsom said:

FAIRFIELD - Henry Don Williams, the fugitive ex-convict who police believe shot and mortally wounded City Councilman Matt Garcia on Sept. 1, was arrested Saturday at a Las Vegas restaurant.

A combined team of Fairfield and Las Vegas police and agents from the U.S. Marshals Service took the 32-year-old suspect into custody without incident, authorities said.

SACRAMENTO -- Senate President pro Tem Don Perata said Thursday that he stands behind a new proposal that is expected to bring to an end the longest budget impasse in state history.

The Senate has scheduled a 4 p.m. Friday vote on the spending blue print.

"I am glad it's over," Perata said. "As I said before, I don't think any of us would put this on our highlight reels. It's 80 days late, and real people are getting hurt."

Perata's full press statement:

SACRAMENTO - A plan to avert a gubernatorial veto and threatened legislative override of the state's deadlocked budget bill appears to have been reached late Thursday afternoon, officials said.

Legislative leaders appear to have knuckled under to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's demand for tighter restrictions on lawmakers' access to the state's rainy day fund, and they have eliminated a proposal to raise $1.6 billion by increasing tax withholdings from Californians' paychecks, according to a Los Angeles Times story just posted online.

Few lawmakers outside the leadership have yet to be briefed on the proposed deal and it was unclear what kind of rank-and-file legislative support it would get. The lawmakers are expected back in the Capitol on Friday to vote, the Times story indicates.

Gov. Sarah Palin's two-day swing through Orange County next week, which included a fundraiser on Sept. 25 and a rally the following day, has been postponed, according to Kevin Roberts, deputy communications director for the California Republican Party.