Jerry Brown, California's Democratic Attorney General, edged closer Tuesday to an official 2010 bid for governor -- an office he previously held from 1975 to 1983.

Brown launched an exploratory campaign committee, a move that will allow him "to essentially quadruple the amount of campaign cash he can raise," the Sacramento Bee reported. California state law, according to the paper, "caps individual donations to gubernatorial candidates at $25,900 per election vs. $6,500 for candidates to other statewide offices," such as Brown's current post as Attorney General.

While Brown has not confirmed he will ultimately run, his candidacy is widely assumed to be a certainty. He is seeking an open seat, as the state's term-limit law bars Republican incumbent Arnold Schwarzenegger from running again.

Brown currently looks like the more promising of the Democrats' likely candidates, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted Sept. 24.

Brown led each of the three top Republicans vying for the seat: former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, and former Rep. Tom Campbell. Whitman came the closet to Brown, trailing by 44 percent to 35 percent.

Duncan Hunter, a retired Republican who once chaired the Armed Services Committee, has decided that Iraq War veterans are the perfect candidates to revive the Republican Party in 2010.

Hunter -- a Vietnam War vet who briefly sought the 2008 Republican presidential nomination -- is already backing two such candidates as they launch challenges to two of the more junior members of the House Democratic majority: Jesse Kelly, who wants to take on two-term incumbent Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona's 8th District, and Vaughn Ward, whose target in Idaho's 1st District is freshman Democrat Walt Minnick.

Hunter will be attending a series of brunches, receptions and a golf outing in Tucson this weekend with Kelly, who said Hunter is a big attraction in conservative circles in his district in Arizona's southeastern corner. "He did very well in early presidential polls down here," Kelly noted, referring to Hunter's 2008 bid.

During much of his House career, Hunter represented a California district that stretched from San Diego east to the border of Kelly's home state of Arizona, though for the past decade the 52nd District has been confined to San Diego County in California's southwest corner.

A bill that would set mortgage standards and aims to curb predatory lending practices was easily passed by the House Thursday on a 300-114 vote, with the support of all but three participating members of the Democratic majority, as well as 60 Republicans.

And the measure proved popular with members from partisan swing districts.

Of the 34 Republican lawmakers from districts that split their tickets to back Democrat Barack Obama in the 2008 election, 25 (or 74 percent) voted for the bill.

The bill was drew much less support, on a percentage basis, from members whose districts went Republican both for president and the House last year. "Aye" votes were cast by just 35 of the 144 Republicans (24 percent) from districts that favored Republican John McCain over Obama.

Keep an eye on two adjacent House districts in California, where Democrats will be going all-out to convince voters who went for President Obama to oust their Republican members of Congress.

Two Democrats made their California campaigns official this week: Democrat Bill Hedrick in the 44th District and Democrat Steve Pougnet in the 45th District.

Hedrick, a member of the Corona-Norco Board of Education, announced Wednesday he will seek a rematch with Republican Rep. Ken Calvert after Hedrick's narrow 2008 loss to the incumbent. Calvert narrowly won re-election to a ninth term in November with just 51 percent of the vote over Hedrick, who received 49 percent.

The southern California 44th and 45th are among eight Republican-held House districts being closely targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for 2010. All eight districts were carried by Barack Obama last November.

California Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan has announced she will join the crowded Democratic field forming in California's 10th District to succeed Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher.

"There are times in our lives when an opportunity knocks quite unexpectedly," Buchanan stated in an open letter to supporters Wednesday.

"After consulting with hundreds of community leaders, voters, elected colleagues and activists across our region; after considering the extraordinary financial challenges facing the country; and after carefully evaluating where I can make the most significant contribution, I have decided that I will be a candidate for Congress in our district," Buchanan wrote..

San Francisco's Democratic Mayor, Gavin Newsom, on Tuesday officially announced his intention to run for governor of California in 2010.

Newsom, who had been operating an exploratory campaign for the open seat race, used multiple communication formats to declare his intention to run.

"I'm running for Governor because California needs a new direction," Newsom said in a statement. He also reached out to supporters through Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Tuesday's special election in New York's 20th District has received substantial national attention, though it's probably a mistake to read too much into the result of the balloting between Republican James Tedisco and Democrat Scott Murphy.

The most obvious reason is that the Obama administration is barely two months old and that 20 months remain until the 2010 midterm elections, which will be a much broader referendum on the president's policies and the Democratic-run Congress.

Moreover, a history of House special elections dating to 1968, which I compiled and posted on Greg's List, should also give pause to ascribing too much importance to the outcome of a low-turnout election in a district that voted narrowly for Barack Obama in the 2008 election.

On the heels of two major endorsements last week, additional big-name supporters are expected to step forward to support Democratic state Sen. Mark DeSaulnier's campaign for California's 10th District, his staff said Monday.

His spokeswoman Shara Perkins confirmed Monday that DeSaulnier is currently in Washington, D.C., participating in meetings related to his campaign and that notable endorsements are expected to be announced later this week.

DeSaulnier has already received perhaps the most coveted endorsement in the race- The current representative of California's 10th District, Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher, endorsed DeSaulnier as her successor last week. Tauscher has been tapped to serve as undersecretary of State for arms control and international security.

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday that he will not be a candidate in 2010, according to the Sacramento Bee, quashing speculation he will challenge Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer.

"I am not running for anything, so no one could threaten me, because I'm not running for Senate, I'm not running for Congress, I'm not running for another term as governor," Schwarzenegger said in reference to his freedom to make policy decisions during a Cal Expo news conference, according to the newspaper.

Schwarzenegger is term-limited in January 2011 and many Republicans hold out hope he will run for Senate.