Worldcup 2010

On the eve of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, FIFA.com spoke to some the Host City coordinators about the mood and the atmosphere in their cities just a few hours from kickoff.

“Port Elizabeth has never had an iconic structure, like Cape Town has Table Mountain. Now we have our stadium. It has altered our skyline and we are proud of this,” said Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth Host City Coordinator, Errol Heynes.

“People have been waiting to get into the mood. We had mass Diski Dance lessons, beach festivals and football festivals. Two weeks ago we had a big party in one of the surrounding townships when FIFA President Blatter came to our city. We can’t wait for it, the whole city is in a festive mood.”

Durban is home to its eye catching new stadium, which has ensured that the city has caught World Cup fever. “People are very positive about the World Cup here in Durban, the infrastructure and beautification programmes have provided a new vibe in the city. In the future we will look back and say ‘Look at what we have done’,” said Julie-May Ellingson, Durban Host City Coordinator.

Durban is looking to its mild atmosphere, beach front and abundant accommodation as draw factors for the tournament’s fans. “It is a good season in Durban, we have made sure that we cater to a family atmosphere, in the fan zones and around the city.”

Tshwane/Pretoria has the second largest number of embassies in the worlds after Washington D.C. and as such will be hoping to leverage on this international diversity during the celebrations of the tournament. “We are hosting the South Africa versus Uruguay match in our city which we are very excited about, but we are excited about all our matches and we are going to be hospitable to all our guests, the fans are welcome,” said Tshwane/Pretoria’s Host City Coordinator, Godfrey Nkwane.

Polokwane is one of the smaller venues on the 2010 FIFA World Cup roster, but the stadium will be hosting a very big game when France and Mexico go head to head. “We are very excited by this game, we will really have the whole world in Polokwane on that day,” said Polokwane Host City Coordinator, Ndavhe Ramakuela.

The city of Mangaung/Bloemfontein has one of the strongest local fan bases in the country, this was shown in the Confederations Cup, when the supporters demonstrated their unique brand of passion. “We recognise these fans,” said George Mohlakoana, the city’s Host City Coordinator. “In fact as part of our social responsibility we have bought tickets for local fans, because it is these people who make local football what it is.”

Johannesburg is without doubt the football hub for the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup, with two match venues in the city limits and the privilege of hosting both the opening and final matches. “Our people make Joburg great. It is humbling to see the South African flag flying so high. People really want to be part of this,” said the city’s 2010 coordinator, Sibongile Khumalo “

Cape Town showed their party spirit during the Final Draw ceremony last year and already the excitement in the city is palpable. “Cape Town has its own pace,” explains Peter Cronje, the city’s Communication Director. “The atmosphere is there. There are events all over the city, the highways are lined with flags and there are so many decorations going up everywhere. As with the Final Draw, Cape Town will come to the party.”

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As many people hit middle age they often start to notice that their memory and mental clarity are not what they used to be. We suddenly can’t remember where we put the keys just a moment ago, or an old acquaintance’s name, or the name of an old band we used to love. As the brain fades, we euphemistically refer to these occurrences as “senior moments”.

While seemingly innocent, this loss of mental focus can potentially have a detrimental impact on our professional, social, and personal wellbeing.

It happens to most of us, but is it inevitable?

Neuroscientists are increasingly showing that there’s actually a lot that can be done. It turns that the brain needs exercise in much the same way our muscles do, and the right mental workouts can significantly improve our basic cognitive functions. Thinking is essentially a process of making neural connections in the brain. To a certain extent, our ability to excel in making the neural connections that drive intelligence is inherited. However, because these connections are made through effort and practice, scientists believe that intelligence can expand and fluctuate according to mental effort.

Now, a new San Francisco web-based company has taken it a step further and developed the first “brain training program” designed to actually help people improve and regain their mental sharpness. Called Lumosity, it was designed by some of the leading experts in neuroscience and cognitive psychology from Stanford University.

Lumosity, is far more than an online place to exercise your mental skills. That’s because they have integrated these exercises into a web-based program that allows you to systematically improve your memory and attention skills. The program keeps track of your progress and provides detailed feedback on your performance and improvement. Most importantly, it constantly modifies and enhances the games you play to build on the strengths you are developing – much like an effective exercise routine requires you to increase resistance and vary your muscle use.

Does It Work?

Apparently it does. In randomized, controlled clinical trials Lumosity was shown to significantly improve basic cognitive functions. One study showed students improved their scores on math tests by 34% after using Lumosity for 6 weeks, significantly greater gains than those made by other students in the same class, who were not training with the Lumosity program.

The company says its users have reported clearer and quicker thinking, improved memory for names, numbers, directions, etc., increased alertness and awareness, elevated mood and better concentration at work or while driving.

While many of the games at Lumosity are free, a modest subscription fee is required to use the full program over the long term.

However, Lumosity is currently offering a free trial of their program to new users so that you can see how well it works before you decide to subscribe. The trial is completely free (no credit card required) and the company believes the results will speak for themselves.

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Twenty-eight students at a Queens parochial school have confirmed cases of the potentially lethal swine flu, with 17 others likely having the illness, New York City’s mayor said Monday.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg emphasized that St. Francis Prep in Fresh Meadows appears to be the only cluster of the virus in the city.

“We are still dealing with a single cluster,” Bloomberg said at a news conference.

The 28 students confirmed to have swine flu are improving, Bloomberg said.

None of the cases are severe, officials said.

The mayor said that “probably” more than 100 students from the school have the virus.

-Click here to see the latest swine flu photos, from NYC and Mexico

St. Francis Prep announced it will be closed Monday and Tuesday “because of the number of students with flu-like symptoms,” according to the school’s Web site.

The swine flu is suspected in the deaths of 149 people in Mexico. Mexican Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said only 20 of the deaths have been confirmed to be from swine flu and the government was awaiting test results on the rest.

Health officials say of the 40 confirmed cases in the United States all those sickened have recovered or are in the process of recovering.

Nassau officials said they have one suspected case and test results for eight Suffolk residents were negative.

The one case of suspected swine flu in Nassau may not be confirmed by the state, Nassau Commissioner of Health Dr. Maria Torroella Carney said Monday.

“The young adult we suspect of having the swine flu had only mild symptoms and has been sent home,” she said. “The state told us today that it was prioritizing the cases it would test, starting with the most severe first. There are a lot of other cases around the state, so we don’t know when it will get to ours.”

The commissioner said her office is preparing for more cases of the disease.

“Some of our residents attend St. Francis Prep School, and we know it [swine flu] is in the metropolitan area. So we’re in touch with schools and hospitals on a daily basis, trying to get a better picture of what is going on in Nassau.”

President Barack Obama said Monday there was concern but not yet “a cause for alarm.”

A travel advisory was being prepared suggesting Americans not travel to Mexico, the center of the outbreak.

One of the confirmed cases involved Esti Lamonaca, 18, of Forest Hills, a senior at St. Francis Prep, health officials told The Associated Press.

Lamonaca said she began feeling ill two days after she and 11 friends returned from a spring break trek to Cancun, Mexico.

She said she had been unaware of the swine flu outbreak in Mexico until friends called her Friday afternoon to tell her – and she then went on the Internet and realized she had the symptoms.

She told Newsday that officials at North Shore- Long Island Jewish Hospital said she “probably” had swine flu.

“I never had such a high fever – 103,” Lamonaca said. “That was scary.”

Late last week students began overwhelming the nurse’s office at St. Francis Prep, complaining of fever, nausea, sore throats and achy bones. The nurse notified the New York City Health Department – and when more students reported being sick Friday, the health department dispatched a team to the school.

Officials said that team got caught in traffic and didn’t arrive at St. Francis until 3:30 p.m., just as classes were being dismissed for the weekend.

Brother Leonard Conway, principal of St. Francis, said only a handful of students were still around and that eight of them promptly tested positive.

Some of those infected had recently visited Mexico.

Nassau Health Commissioner Maria Torroella Carney said the county’s suspected case involves a person who had traveled to Mexico recently and had mild symptoms.

Tests on flu swabs for eight Suffolk residents returned from the state lab in Albany negative for the swine flu, officials said.

In response to the outbreak, roughly 12 million doses of the antiviral drug Tamiflu will be moved from a federal stockpile to where states can quickly get it, Napolitano said.

Meanwhile, cleaning crews spent Sunday scrubbing down the building at St. Francis.

“I haven’t been out of my house since Wednesday and am just hoping to make a full recovery soon,” Lamonaca told The Associated Press. “I am glad school is closed because it supposedly is very contagious, and I don’t want this to spread like it has in Mexico.”

Some schools in Texas, California and Ohio also were closing after students were found or suspected to have the flu.

The outbreak has people on edge across the country.

Officials along the U.S.-Mexico border asked health care providers to take respiratory samples from patients who appear to have the flu. Travelers were being asked if they visited flu-stricken areas.

The St. Francis Prep Web site is asking faculty – as well as students – to take a “Flu Survey.”

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Behold GMC’s hybrid, the K15 Sierra. This pickup truck scores a 3 on the EPA’s 0-to-10 emissions scale, with 0 being the worst. It gets a whopping 18 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving. That compares with the 16 mpg attained by its non-hybrid sibling, the K1500 Sierra.

So what, exactly, is green or even fuel-efficient about this vehicle?

You might ask the same question about Chevrolet’s C15 Silverado hybrid (19 mpg, compared to the regular C1500’s 18). Even some of the new vehicles touted as significantly less gas-hungry than their peers still post mileage ratings that could be bested by a regular old Toyota Corolla with a headwind.

Meanwhile, drivers of cars that actually have impressive EPA mileage ratings complain that their real fuel economy is far less advertised.

A focus on performance

What’s going on here? Are car manufacturers perpetrating a scam on unsuspecting consumers?

Not quite, car experts say. Any car maker has to balance fuel efficiency with performance, said Bob Kurilko of car-shopping site Edmunds.com. With the latest generations of hybrids, manufacturers are simply leaning more toward the performance side of the scale.

The earliest incarnations — the Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight, for example — were stingy with gas, getting EPA ratings of around 60 mpg. But “they weren’t much fun to drive,” said Perry Stern, editor of MSN Autos.

“With the (hybrid Honda) Accord or the new Lexus RX, a buyer doesn’t have to make that compromise,” Stern said. “You get more power, and you get better fuel economy than other vehicles in the same class. It’s not going to save tons of money at the pump, but you’re not having to give up on fuel economy to get a more powerful vehicle.”

Hard to justify

The problem is that car manufacturers are charging substantially more for these new hybrids than for their gas-using counterparts. Though the car makers tout extra performance, the bigger sticker price can make it harder to justify the economics of buying a hybrid.

For example, the hybrid Accord gets a combined 32 mpg, compared to the regular Accord’s 24. But it also costs $3,300 more, Perry said.

Assuming you drive 15,000 miles a year and gas averages $2.50 a gallon (we can hope), you’d be saving $391 a year on fuel. That means it would take you about eight years to break even.

And, under the new energy law, hybrid vehicles that don’t achieve significantly better mileage won’t share in the generous tax credits available to those that do.

The Lexus RX 400h, a luxury hybrid, carries a sticker price about $10,000 higher than that of the RX 330, the regular version of the crossover SUV. The hybrid clocks 31 mpg in city driving, compared to the gas-powered’s 18 mpg.

“The Lexus story is that the new hybrid gets 13 mpg better than the standard V6 RX, but also gets 38 more horsepower,” Stern said.

Lexus is also trying to bridge the price gap by making standard some of the features that are optional in the gas version. But there’s still a pretty big difference in price tags.

There’s a smaller gap between the hybrid and gas versions of the Ford Escape. The all-wheel-drive hybrid costs about $28,000, compared to $26,000 for a gas version with similar performance.

The new hybrids

Car makers will introduce at least 15 new models over the next few years.

Sources: Fueleconomy.gov, J.D. Power-LMC; Energy & Environmental Analysis (EEA); manufacturer Web sites.

Do they deliver on mileage?

Then there’s the issue of whether these cars actually get the mileage they claim. This is actually a pretty big deal with the vehicles that are the most fuel-efficient: the Prius and the Insight. Owners have been yowling for years that their mileage isn’t anything like the EPA’s numbers.

“I drove a Prius for a week and never saw 60 mpg,” Perry said. “I averaged around 42 mpg.”

Now, that kind of mileage should make any Hummer driver blush. But it’s not that much better than a fuel-efficient small sedan, like a Honda Civic. (The EPA clocks the Civic with Honda’s “Lean Burn” engine technology at 36 mpg city, 44 mpg highway.)

So while hybrids might not be a scam, they are pretty expensive for what you’re getting.

That’s largely because hybrids are still a bit of a novelty act. As more models are introduced in coming years and competition heats up, at least some of that premium for hybrid technology should evaporate, predicted auto writer Terry Kosdrosky of Crain’s Detroit Business.

In other words, if you’re thinking about a hybrid, consider waiting a few years.

Rolling forward

If you’re in the market for a car now, here are a few thoughts:

Consider all your alternatives. You don’t have to go hybrid to get better-than-average mileage — and you don’t have to stick to small cars, either. FuelEconomy.gov keeps a list of the most and least fuel-efficient vehicles in each class of cars. You might want to take a look at today’s diesel cars as well. The diesel versions of Volkswagen’s Beetle and its Jetta and Passat Wagons were named the most fuel-efficient in their class.

If you’re going to buy one of the “tax deduction” hybrids, get going. The waiting list for Priuses is six months long in many areas. Tax credits of up to $3,000 are available for cars delivered after Jan. 1, 2006 — but only to the first 60,000 vehicles each automaker sells.

Whether you buy hybrid or not, consider ways to reduce your fuel consumption. Those ways haven’t changed much since the energy crisis of the early 1970s:

• Avoid jack-rabbit starts and stops; rapid acceleration wastes gas.

• Keep your speed to 60 mph or less.

• Reduce your trips by carpooling, combining errands, walking or biking.

• Use public transportation.

• Keep your tires properly inflated.

• Replace clogged air filters.

• Clean out your trunk (the more weight you carry, the worse your mileage)

Liz Pulliam Weston’s column appears every Monday and Thursday, exclusively on MSN Money. She also answers reader questions in the Your Money message board.

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The Blockbuster chain of video stores may be, in its current incarnation, parallel to a charging bull elephant with a bullet in its brain: It’s dead but doesn’t know it yet.

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ValueClick Inc. generated $625.8 million during 2008, up from the $616.5 million it pulled in during 2007. But the online advertising firm took a net loss of $214.1 million in 2008, largely due to a $322 million impairment of goodwill charge. During 2007, it recorded $70.6 million in net income.

With its operating units, the Media segment, which includes display advertising, lead generation marketing and e-commerce, generated #01.3 million, down from $366.3 million. Operating income from the unit was $73.2 million, down from $86.8 million.

While ValueClick pulled in a little more revenue from its Affiliate Marketing segment — $122 million in 2008, up from $116 million – income didn’t follow suit. Affilliate Marketing’s segment income dropped from $63.2 million in 2007 to $59.5 million.

Comparison Shopping and Search raked in $177.1 million, up from $112.7 million a year earlier. But much of this growth was the result of a full year’s contribution from MeziMedia, a search, shopping and content web sites operator, in July 2007. Operating income from the segment rose from $22.5 million to $40.9 million in 2008.

Within ValueClick’s Technology Segment, revenue rose from $23.7 million to $28.7 million, while segment income increased from $10.5 million to $13.6 million.

In 2007, ValueClick derived 60% of its revenue from its “Media” operations. In 2008, this dropped to 48% — in large part due to the MeziMedia acquisition, which increased Comparison Shopping and Search’s importance.

The Analyst’s Take: Give ValueClick credit for focusing its online display advertising efforts. In 2007, its display advertising operations worked with 16,000 sites in the U.S., and 21,000 worldwide. That year, these sites served up advertising to 134 million unique visitors. In 2008, the number of U.S. sites dropped to 15,000, reducing the number of worldwide sites to 20,000 – but the number of unique visitors rose to 159 million. It’s doing this with fewer domestic employees – 739 at the end of 2008, compared with 922 a year earlier – and a few more international ones (450, up from 422 in 2007).

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Everyone knows professional wrestling is fake. Everyone knows the same about movies. In both cases the eager spectators simultaneously admire the artifice and pretend it isn’t there, allowing themselves to believe that those people down in the ring or up on the screen are truly inflicting pain on one another.

The Wrestler,” Darren Aronofsky’s fourth feature (and winner of the top prize at the Venice Film Festival this year), cannily exploits this parallel and at the same time shows that, in both movies and wrestling, the line between reality and play-acting may be less clear than we assume. Shooting his battered hero mainly in trudging, hand-held tracking shots, Mr. Aronofsky, whose earlier movies include the brain-teasing “Pi” and the swooning, fantastical, unwatchable “Fountain,” here makes a convincing show of brute realism.

The supermarkets, trailer parks, V.F.W. halls and run-down amphitheaters of New Jersey are convincingly drab, and the grain of the celluloid carries a sour and salty aura of weariness and defeat. But the story that emerges is disarmingly sweet, indeed at times downright saccharine — a familiar parable of squandered hopes and second chances. It’s a bit phony, perhaps, but to refuse to embrace the movie’s deep hokiness would be to cheat yourself of some of the profound pleasure it offers.

Randy (the Ram) Robinson, played with sly, hulking grace by Mickey Rourke, is anything but a phony, in spite of the fact that nothing about him is quite genuine. His real name, which he can’t stand to hear, is Robin Ramsinski; his muscles are puffed up with steroids, and it’s highly doubtful that his flowing mane is naturally blond. But this careful fakery is, to some extent, what certifies Randy as the real thing, an authentic, passionate, natural performer. The description fits Mr. Rourke as well.

Randy (the Ram) Robinson, played with sly, hulking grace by Mickey Rourke, is anything but a phony, in spite of the fact that nothing about him is quite genuine. His real name, which he can’t stand to hear, is Robin Ramsinski; his muscles are puffed up with steroids, and it’s highly doubtful that his flowing mane is naturally blond. But this careful fakery is, to some extent, what certifies Randy as the real thing, an authentic, passionate, natural performer. The description fits Mr. Rourke as well.

Back in the 1980s, both the real actor and the fictional wrestler were superstars. (A monologue eulogizing that decade and cursing the one that followed has an obvious and piquant double meaning; that the speech is addressed to the character played by Marisa Tomei, whose career hit some snags of its own in the later ’90s, makes it all the more touching.)

Mr. Rourke was a tenderhearted tough guy with a crooked smile and a gentleness that came through even tough-guy poses and bad movies. Randy, meanwhile, was a giant in the world of pro wrestling, inspiring action figures and video games and plying his brutal trade in top arenas like Madison Square Garden.

Now, 20 years later, he — Randy, that is — has been relegated to shabbier halls. He has trouble making the rent on his trailer, and his health is failing. His professionalism, however, is undiminished, and the most moving and persuasive scenes in “The Wrestler” show the Ram backstage with the men who are his comrades and rivals, working out the finer points of their routines with a warmth and respect completely at odds with the viciousness they display in the ring.

With a younger wrestler, Randy is warm and avuncular, praising the kid’s ability and urging him to stay in the game. Others, many of them played by active or retired real-life wrestlers, he refers to without affectation as “Brother.”

While the fights are choreographed, the pain and the blood are frequently real. We are privy to tricks of the trade, like the tiny bit of razor blade that Randy uses to open a cut on his face in the middle of a bout. And we witness a horrifying match involving broken glass, barbed wire and a staple gun, all of it agreed upon by the combatants.

We also understand that every fight is a miniature morality play. At one point Randy and an adversary sit in chairs, trading slaps across the face. When the designated bad guy lands a blow, the crowd boos; when he’s on the receiving end, it cheers. The basic rule is laid out succinctly by an old nemesis of Randy’s: “I’m the heel, and you’re the face.”

About that face. Mr. Aronofsky takes his time showing it, trailing behind Mr. Rourke and allowing us sidelong glances for the first few minutes of the film, before disclosing the battered, lumpy yet still strangely beautiful wreck of what we remember from “Diner” or “The Pope of Greenwich Village.” Damaged, tired, ill used as he may be — or maybe not! movies aren’t real! — Mr. Rourke is still, in the wrestling sense of the word, the face, the magnetic pole of our interest, the guy we’re rooting for.

But Randy is also, outside the ring, something of a heel. He is estranged from his daughter, Stephanie, (Evan Rachel Wood), whose anger when he tries to reconcile suggests some major mess-ups in the past. He also has a crush on a stripper known as Cassidy (Ms. Tomei), whose lap dances and friendly chitchat he interprets as signs of reciprocated interest.

The news that Ms. Tomei plays a stripper may make you roll your eyes — it may, for that matter, make them pop out of your head — but her job is more than an excuse to get exposed flesh other than Mr. Rourke’s up on the screen. Randy and Cassidy (it’s not her real name, either) are both performers, both expert at faking something the customers desperately want to believe is real. The wrestlers don’t really hate one another, and the stripper doesn’t really love you.

The fact that Randy doesn’t quite get that when it comes to Cassidy — and yet senses that they do something in common — is part of his appeal. He’s not that smart, really, but he has a genuine gift. And parts of “The Wrestler,” which was written by Robert D. Siegel, are dumb in their own way, or rather in the way that so many movies are. The Randy-Stephanie subplot is unpersuasive, and the last few twists of the Randy-Cassidy romance verge on the preposterous. But like its hero, the movie has a blunt, exuberant honesty, pulling off even its false moves with conviction and flair.

“The Wrestler” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It has fake bloodshed and real nudity.

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Ever since gold miners first scraped their fortunes out of the hills of northern California, America’s most populous state has been a land of titanic dreams. These days, though, it’s a place with even bigger problems. Its $42 billion budget deficit would make an out-of-control Hollywood director blush — and bankrupt a small nation. Its schools are failing, air quality is worsening, and unemployment neared 10% as of December. The only thing larger than its litany of woes, however, is the roster of big-name political celebrities who are testing the waters for a run for governor in 2010, when term limits show Arnold Schwarzenegger to the door. (See a photogallery of scared stock traders.)

“This is an era of limits,” Jerry Brown recently told TIME, reprising a theme he sounded more than 30 years ago when the state first put him in the governor’s mansion in the aftermath of Watergate and the last throes of Vietnam War. “There is not a lot of room for political maneuvering. The age of dividing up the easy surpluses is over. We’ve been on a borrowing binge, both in the private and public sector, and we’re going to have to enter a time of belt-tightening.” (See the top 10 financial-crisis buzzwords.)

Brown, 70 and himself a son of an iconic governor (Pat Brown who famously defeated Richard Nixon), is probably best known outside of California as a three-time Democratic presidential candidate and former long-time boyfriend of Linda Ronstadt. Currently, the state’s attorney general, he has already added more than $3 million to his war chest, money easily enough transferred to a gubernatorial campaign when the time is right. (See the top 10 financial collapses of 2008.)

Brown, 70 and himself a son of an iconic governor (Pat Brown who famously defeated Richard Nixon), is probably best known outside of California as a three-time Democratic presidential candidate and former long-time boyfriend of Linda Ronstadt. Currently, the state’s attorney general, he has already added more than $3 million to his war chest, money easily enough transferred to a gubernatorial campaign when the time is right. (See the top 10 financial collapses of 2008.)

Not everyone is waiting. When Brown does enter the race he’ll be facing another long-time Golden State political pro, Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, a two-time former insurance commissioner and deputy U.S. interior secretary under President Clinton. “I am in. Period,” Garamendi told TIME. (He was once a political rival of Jerry Brown’s sister Kathleen.) California, Garamendi says, needs a leader who will put progressive back into the Golden State’s political lexicon. Despite Schwarzenegger’s swing to the middle recently, Garamendi said the governor has lost his ability to lead the state out of its troubles. His two terms, he said, “have been a failure of leadership.” (See “25 People to Blame for the Financial Crisis”.)

Meanwhile, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, 41, another Democrat who has yet to officially enter the race, has been barnstorming across California holding town-hall style meetings. “We’ve done six and we have more scheduled,” he said recently, taking a late-night break on the side of the road to talk politics with TIME for 45 minutes. “And I just can’t believe how engaged, and how passionate, the voters are at each and every place we go. They are hungry for change.” (See “The Recession of 1958″.)

Like Brown, he says California is in bad shape. But he adds that he’ll offer a more hopeful message than one anchored by austerity. “There are two ways to respond to our current crisis,” he said. “One, we can cut our way out. But then we enter a downward spiral of disinvestment. The other is we can grow our way out of our problems. That’s where I am. This state has such amazing capacity for change, for economic development. We need a strategy to grow.” (Watch a video about gay marriage in California.)

The state that once drew people from all over the world to create Silicon Valley, the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley and Hollywood, now sees too many of its best people leave. To stop that, Newsom hopes to borrow a page from last year’s Obama campaign. On the floor of the Democratic National Convention last summer, Newsom told TIME that he wanted to run in 2010, but first wanted to see if voters embraced Obama’s campaign of youth and generational chance. “I think we’ve had an answer to that, back in November,” Newsom said in his recent interview. “Youthfulness and hope — it’s also who I am naturally. I was 35 when I ran for mayor of San Francisco [in 2003]. Youthfulness is not a chronological date, it’s about a state of mind, it’s the quality of your imagination.”

Another big-city mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, could shake up the already crowded Democratic field as soon as this spring. Villaraigosa, 56, is expected to easily win a second term March 3. After that, an aide tells TIME, he can turn his attention to whether he will run for governor. “He has said on the record that he doesn’t know yet, but when he decides, he’ll do what’s best for the people of California.” (See TIME’s list of the 25 Most Influential Hispanics in America.)

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the state’s most popular politician, has been coy about her own intentions regarding the race. She’d make a powerful candidate, but others doubt she’ll give up her power in the Senate.

Whichever of the Democrats wins the primary, he or she will likely face tough competition from Schwarzenegger’s party, where two billionaires and a former Silicon Valley congressman are already sizing each other up. Former U.S. Rep. Tom Campbell and state insurance commissioner — and tech billionaire — Steve Poizner have formed exploratory committees and are expected to make the race.

Last Monday, former eBay CEO Meg Whitman shook up the potential GOP primary line-up by forming her own gubernatorial exploratory committee. Already equipped with a powerful roster of statewide co-chairs and political endorsements — and her own history of big-time fundraising — the Whitman development looked anything but exploratory. Whitman, 52, was a national co-chair and money magnet for the McCain/Palin ticket in 2008. In a statement, she said, “California faces challenges unlike any other time in its history — a weak and faltering economy, massive job losses, and an exploding state budget deficit. California is better than this, and I refuse to stand by and watch it fail. Now is the time for people across the state to join a cause for change, excellence and a new California.” (See the TIME/CNN list of the 25 Most Influential Global Executives.)

Brown, who expects the billionaires on the other side to make it a race, says he’s betting that voters aren’t looking for a new California. Ideas, even if borrowed from an earlier time, will be fine, just so long as they work. “They want a campaign based on hope, but grounded in common sense,” he says. “They don’t need a grab bag of alluring ideas. They want realism.”

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AP – Former President Bill Clinton, speaks during the Jefferson/Jackson Democratic fundraising event in Richmond, … Given the sweep and severity of today’s global economic crisis, it would seem there’s plenty of blame to go around. But Bill Clinton doesn’t think any of it should fall on his shoulders.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Wrestling Gear That You Need to Have
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Possibly Related Posts:

• Wrestling Gear That You Need to Have
• Why Submission Wrestling is a good form of Female Wrestling?
• The Online Wrestling Games
• How Mixed Wrestling Came to Be?
• FIFA World Cup 2010 – Cities gear up for kickoff