The airwaves, and now even the Internet, are saturated with cookie-cutter political ads, and recent weeks have seen a number of musical parodies designed to draw attention in this cluttered environment. One of the latest is Ronnie Butler's "Obama! A Modern U.S. President," which spoofs all of the attacks on the White House, with a tip of the hat to "Glee."

Tough Times: As if you needed any reminding, this is really a nutty midterm. Really.

Tune in Tomorrow: If CSPAN had soap operas, they would look like this.

Cable on the Table: Comcast, already one of the most prolific donors among the media congloms, is opening up its pocketbook to an even greater extent as they week approval of the merger with NBC Universal.

The Latest on 8: Opponents of Prop 8 filed a brief that links the string of gay suicides to the denial of same-sex marriage rights.

Poll Position: Rock the Vote has launched its most extensive midterm campaign yet, deploying Joaquin Phoenix and other celebrities with a campaign called "Vote Fearlessly."

The horror movie hostess does a parody in the Halloween spirit.

Melissa Etheridge, Danny Glover and Hal Sparks are scheduled to endorse Prop 19, the initiative to legalize marijuana in California, at a press conference in West Hollywood on Thursday.

Joining them will be former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, former LAPD deputy chief Steve Downing and filmmaker Melissa Balin.

This weekend also is the first annual Buddhafest at Los Angeles Center Studios (where shows like "Mad Men" are shot), an event designed to raise awareness of cannibis.

Prop 19 would legalize marijuana for those over 21 and establish a system to tax its sale.

President Obama will make an appearance on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" next week, as the Comedy Central host prepares for his rally on the National Mall in Washington.

CBS News reports that Obama will guest on Oct. 27, as "The Daily Show" spends a week in the nation's capital ahead of the midterms. Stewart's rally will be on Oct. 30, although few details of the event have been announced.

Since he took office, Obama has appeared on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Late Show with David Letterman," the first sitting president to do so, but he has yet to guest on Stewart's program.

Jerry Brown's new ad spot, "Echo," features Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Brown's rival Meg Whitman saying almost exactly the same thing. It's Brown's most brazen attempt yet to link Whitman to Schwarzenegger, who has one of the lowest approval ratings of any governor. By most accounts, Brown and Schwarzenegger have worked well together, so it'll be interesting to see how they interact next week. That's when they will share the stage along with Whitman for a forum at the Women's Conference in Long Beach.

I guess now we have an answer on the Schwarzenegger endorsement, perhaps from both campaigns: Thanks, but no thanks.

The new ad spot is here.

Update: The Whitman campaign's response is to link Brown to Schwarzenegger.

Spokeswoman Andrea Jones Rivera says in a statement: "Comparing Meg's experience as one of the world's most successful business leaders to Arnold Schwarzenegger's career as an actor is a false equivalency. The only candidate who has supported Arnold's plan to raise taxes is Jerry Brown when he supported the ballot measure in 2009 that would have raised Californians' taxes by $16 billion. Now, Jerry's plan is to do exactly what Arnold did and ask the voters to approve a massive tax increase. Meg Whitman is the only candidate who is offering Californians a real solution to the problems they face and is the only candidate who has promised not to raise taxes."

Update: Schwarzenegger's response? He said that his "delivery of the lines was much better in the commercial than hers."

Here's my print column from weekly Variety, focusing on the disparity in industry support between Barbara Boxer and Carly Fiorina, somewhat surprising given that the gulf is not as great between California's gubernatorial hopefuls, Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman.

One candidate seeking to return to Washington has raised more money from Hollywood than any other: Barbara Boxer.

That's no surprise, as her entertainment connections run deep and she's been holding entertainment-centric fund-raisers for this race for years now.

What is a bit curious is how little industry support has gone to Boxer's Republican challenger, Carly Fiorina.

Fiorina has not collected contributions from entertainment industry figures even at the same level as her fellow Silicon Valley veteran, Meg Whitman, running as a Republican in a tight race for governor against Democrat Jerry Brown.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Boxer has raised $712,712 from showbiz sources for her re-election bid, compared with less than $39,000 for Fiorina.

Up to now, Hollywood's contribution to the No on 23 campaign, fighting a rollback in California's global warming law, has been scant.

But director James Cameron chipped in $1 million on Friday.

Other recent contributors include Alan Horn, who contributed $25,000, and actor Bejamin Bratt, who chipped in $2,500.

The biggest benefactors so far have been Silicon Valley executives, environmental orgs and hedge fund manager Thomas Steyer. Google's Sergey Brin contributed $200,000.

Proposition 23, funded heavily by oil companies, is opposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who held a fund-raiser for the campaign against the proposition and starred in some of Cameron's most popular movies, including "The Terminator." Cameron has been an ever visible environmental activist, following up the release of "Avatar" with several visits in support of an indigenous tribe in the Amazon fighting government policy encroaching on their environment. He also has made several visits to Washington, pushing lawmakers to pass a comprehensive climate bill.

The rally was to elect Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom, but there was little doubt as to who was the draw at UCLA on Friday evening: former President Bill Clinton.

He not only spoke last and longest, he also spent the most time working the rope line, to crushing crowds of students.

Many of the thousands who gathered at a campus park were too young to even remember when Clinton was first elected, but he offered an appeal that cited his own accomplishments as well as Obama's ability to stabilize the economy. And while Clinton did offer a testimonial for voting for Brown and Newsom, much of his remarks were devoted to boosting Democrats in general.

"It is not enough to have voted for President Obama if you will not help him govern and stick behind the members of Congress who stood with him," said Clinton, noting that if young voters turned out in the same numbers that they did in 2008, Democrats would be in much better shape.

Focusing on the federal debt, a primary talking point at Tea Party rallies, Clinton said that the "country would have been out of debt for the first time since 1832 by 2015" but that Republicans gained control of the White House and Congress and abolished pay-as-you-go rules, launched two wars and started a prescription drug benefit, as well as tax cuts that benefited the upper income strata.

"To hear the Republicans talk about it is all President Obama's and Congress' fault," Clinton said.

"The crash didn't happen because there was too much government," he said. "The crash happened because there was too little oversight, too much risk and nobody was there."

"The last thing you want to do is bring in the shovel brigade and bring us off from where we are. We need to keep going forward, not backward," he said.

Brown and Clinton are former rivals, but there was no sign of animosity. Clinton praised Brown's early support of green energy initiatives during his first tenure as governor.

"He was the first governor in America to have green building standards, green appliance standards,” Clinton said. "He knew it was good economics when most people thought it was a fool's errand."

Alternately folksy in tone and effortlessly citing facts and figures, Clinton also was in sync with Brown in criticizing Whitman's proposal to cut the state capital gains tax.

"Even if you think it is a good idea to repeal the capital gains tax, why in god's name would ou do it now when you can't pay the education costs that you have? Why would you do it?"

With former President Bill Clinton appearing with Jerry Brown (along with Gavin Newsom) today, Meg Whitman's campaign is debuting a new short, "The Way We Were: Starring Jerry and Bill." They are having the "world premiere" of the project at LA Live --- certainly to try to upstage the Clinton visit --- at LA Live with Clint Howard (brother of Ron) and State Sen. Tony Strickland as hosts.

"It is a guaranteed blockbuster that explores the timeless themes of jealousy, revenge, retribution and redemption for political expediency," the Whitman campaign says. "We finally put Bill and Jerry in their rightful place in the history of famous tortured couples, from Liz and Dick to Jen and Brad."

Joe Mathews writes on the Daily Beast that the Clinton and Brown visit could very well trigger excruciating memories, which he runs through here.

Update: The 8-minute movie, made by Whitman campaign staffer Ben Price, was a one-time only screening, but the campaign has posted many of the clips here.

The event itself gathered a number of Students for Whitman before they did phone banking, but the campaign did obtain theater space at the Regal Cinemas at L.A. Live.

The campaign provided popcorn, balloons, even gift bags for attendees, and a logo for the movie itself: A broken heart with photos of Clinton and Brown on each end.

The theme was that Clinton and Brown had shown such animosity in the past that the only reason for their event tonight was political expediency.

"I'd bet you dollars for donuts that they'd never ever vote for each other," Howard said.

Here's a scene from the movie, via the San Francisco Chronicle's Carla Marinucci, who also was there.

Surrounded by Hollywood actresses and other members of California's congressional delegation, Barbara Boxer took aim at her opponent Carly Fiorina's stand on abortion, calling her positions "extreme."

"Make no mistake about it, a woman's right to choose is on the ballot in California," said Boxer, surrounded at an event at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with pro-choice activists including Amy Brenneman, Maria Bello and Alfre Woodard.

The event was an effort to further define the differences between Boxer and Fiorina, now locked in a tight Senate race.

One Republican activist told Politico that Boxer's "single greatest skill is running against pro-life opponents. She's really good at it. Matt Fong [her GOP nominee in 1998] didn't even know he was pro-life until Barbara Boxer got through with him."

Fiorina is pro-life, but she has said that Boxer's efforts at highlighting the issue is an effort to distract voters' attention away from the economy and jobs.

The Rally Gets Bigger: The New York Times reports that specific plans have yet to be announced for the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert rallies on Oct. 30. But the interest is growing: almost 300,000 people have so far signed up to attend. Satellite rallies have been planned in 40 locations nationally and six foreign countries. (A Los Angeles version of the rally is in the works).

Weekend Itinerary: Former President Bill Clinton is in Los Angeles on Friday for a fund raiser at the Beverly Hilton for the California Democratic Party followed by a UCLA rally with Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom...Barbara Boxer raises money on Sunday at the Malibu home of Ron and Kelly Meyer, with Jackson Browne providing an acoustic performance.

Sources say Jerry Brown raised more than $1.25 million tonight at an entertainment-centric fund-raiser at West Hollywood's Soho House, chaired by the DreamWorks trio of Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen.

The event, in a private room with sweeping views of the Los Angeles basin, was among the most lucrative fund-raisers for Brown in his bid for governor, with a list of co-chairs and sponsors heavy in studio executives and other industry figures long active in Democratic politics. Tickets started at $5,000 per person, with co-chairs writing checks or raising $25,000.

Spielberg was not present, but Geffen and Katzenberg were. The latter introduced Brown, who spoke for about 20 minutes but did not take questions.

According to sources who were there, Brown delivered many of the same points that he has on the stump, with a streaming speaking style interspersed with quotes from such figures as Robert Frost. He talked of his California roots and his experience, even with the minutia of government. He made reference to being an "unpredictable person" who could work well with other "unpredictable people."

He also talked about his appreciation for the creative community, and noted the growth of the entertainment industry since he was last governor from 1975 to 1983. He noted the importance of the industry to the economy and of luring production back to the state.

Those attending included Alan Horn, Jonathan Dolgen, Skip Brittenham, Lynda and Stewart Resnick, Berry Gordy, Casey Wasserman, Steven Bochco and Casey Wasserman.

Brown is leading in the polls, and while there was a good feeling about his prospects, there also was a realization of the importance of turnout in early and absentee voting and on Nov. 2, sources said.

The list of chairs and sponsors on the invite to the event included Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson and Tom Ford. As is often the case, many donors contribute but do not attend the event itself.

The DreamWorks trio also hosted an event in November, 2009, that raised about $1 million for Brown's campaign.

Pat Sajak debuted on the National Review's Corner blog, with a short post that poses a provocative idea from the conservative side of the spectrum: There are instances when government employees shouldn't be allowed to vote.

He writes, "None of my family and friends is allowed to appear on "Wheel of Fortune." Same goes for my kids’ teachers or the guys who rotate my tires. If there’s not a real conflict of interest, there is, at least, the appearance of one. On another level, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan has recused herself from nearly half the cases this session due to her time as solicitor general. In nearly all private and public endeavors, there are occasions in which it’s only fair and correct that a person or group be barred from participating because that party could directly and unevenly benefit from decisions made and policies adopted. So should state workers be able to vote in state elections on matters that would benefit them directly? The same question goes for federal workers in federal elections.""

It was aimed at the prospect of initiatives on state ballots that would cap benefits of state workers, who make up a significant voting bloc.

He doesn't address the most blatant conflict of interest, however: Candidates voting for themselves, along with their families, friends, campaign staffs and other connected interests.

But he writes, "I realize this opens a Pandora’s box in terms of figuring out what constitutes a true conflict of interest, but, after all, isn’t opening those boxes Ricochet’s raison d’être?"

I've been finishing up a print piece, so I am just now getting to this clip from "The View," in which Bill O'Reilly tussles over whether the mosque should be built near Ground Zero. It ended when Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg walked off the set.

It's another great moment in discourse...

NPR is prohibiting its news staff and others from attending the Oct. 30 rallies in Washington led by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

Management sent word on the NPR blog and via e-mail on Wednesday that attending the event raisies concerns about objectivity, even if the rallies as conceived are not advocating any candidate or party. The exception, of course, will be for staffers who are covering the event.

NPR's Dana Davis Rehm wrote in a blog post, "Some people are asking why staff shouldn't attend, since these events are just good fun? How serious could rallies led by comedians be? They are asking whether we sent a similar memo to staff about the Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally or any other recent rallies on the mall in Washington, D.C., such as the "One Nation" rally.

"We didn't get questions from staff about the "Restoring Honor" and "One Nation" rallies, because it was obvious to everyone that these were overtly political events. It's different with the Colbert and Stewart rallies; they are ambiguous. But their rallies will be perceived as political by many, whatever we think. As such, they are off limits except for those covering the events."

Update: Huffington Post has a roundup of policies at other major publications, but it is actually encouraging participation. The site is sponsoring buses to take attendees from New York to Washington.

I actually think that, for journalists, this is more about common sense than anything else.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, currently in Britain meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron, took to Twitter today to call out state Republican lawmakers who are refusing to back pension reform amid lobbying by the prison guards union.

Schwarzenegger linked to a story in the Riverside Press-Enterprise, noting that it was a great story because it called out Republicans for blocking reform. "That's right, Republicans," Schwarzenegger wrote, while also praising state Republican chairman Ron Nehring for calling out Democrats for opposing reform.

That triggered a question from a follower, who asked, "What do you think of eMeg selling her vote to the police union." Schwarzenegger responded, "It's apalling when someone sells out."

Schwarzenegger has been critical of Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown for not providing enough specifics of what they plan to do to balance the state budget, and at an appearance before the Los Angeles Press Club in June he encouraged reporters to hold their feet to the fire.

Not one to pile on, Schwarzenegger soon answered a question about the use of the "whore" comment by one of Brown's campaign staffers. "That word is unacceptable," he wrote.

One follower picked up on his exchange, sending the retweet and a comment, “@Cinepub: @Schwarzenegger "It's appalling when anyone sells out": Then explain Junior!”

Responded Schwarzenegger: "Now that's funny."

My colleague Gordon Cox reports on two indie documentaries --- "GhettoPhysics: Will the Real Pimps and Ho's Please Stand Up" and "I Want Your Money" --- that will be trying to gain traction this weekend by tapping into audiences of progressives and conservatives.

"I Want Your Money" goes hand and hand with Tea Party cries for less taxation and government, and has already generated more than 3.5 million views on YouTube.

Paul Lauer, who is helping to market the project, has drawn on endorsements from American Conservative Union, Americans for Tax Reform and Citizens Against Government Waste. And Rep. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan, the Republican House policy committee chair, has offered to promote the film on his own dime.

The full story is here.

Lauer also was a central figure in marketing "The Passion of the Christ" in 2004, but he has been avoiding calls about Christine O'Donnell's work on marketing the movie. Nevertheless, he says that just as "The Passion" tapped into a pent-up demand for faith-based films, her candidacy also tapped into that potent movement.

"What happened on 'The Passion' happened to her," he told Cox.

The California Republican Party is linking Jerry Brown to Jane Fonda, digging up 30-plus year-old flap over Brown's appointment of Fonda to the California Arts Council.

The party sent out an e-mail today linking to an archive post of the story, in which Brown said back then, "It's better to bring controversy into the arena of decision making than to keep it underground."

At the time, Fonda was a much more polarizing figure because of her opposition to the war in Vietnam and visit to Hanoi. Her appointment to the panel was rejected by the state Senate.

She has since said that she regretted photos in which she is sitting on an anti-aircraft gun, and apologized to veterans.

But she routinely emerges as a Republican target, most recently in 2004, when a fake photograph was circulated that made it look like she was sitting next to John Kerry at a 1970 anti-war rally.

That the state Republican party has targeted her in the campaign probably is an appeal to older, conservative voters who still detest her for her politics.

Fonda opposed the war in Iraq, and even attended an anti-war rally in Washington in 2007, but she has often stayed out of the partisan fray.

Jerry Brown's fund-raising event on Thursday at the Soho House, organized by the DreamWorks trio, is drawing a who's who list of industry donors.

The names who have signed up as co-chairs and sponsors have expanded considerably since they first went out last month.

Co-chairs, those who have written checks for $25,000 or have committed to raise that amount, include George Lucas, Katie McGrath and J.J. Abrams, Annette Bening and Warren Beatty, Steve Bing, Heather Thomas and Skip Brittenham, Carole Bayer Sager and Bob Daly, Sarah and Ariel Emanuel, Richard Buckley and Tom Ford, Stanley Gold, Berry Gordy, Tom Gores, Cindy and Alan Horn, Jimmy Iovine, Jena and Michael King, Erik Hyman and Max Mutchnick, Van Fletcher and Skip Paul, Michele and Rob Reiner, Lynda and Stewart Resnick, Lorraine and Sid Sheinberg, Steve Tisch, Laura and Casey Wasserman and Susan Harris and Paul Junger Witt.

Also contributing is the Walt Disney Co., which also has given to the campaign of Brown's rival, Meg Whitman. Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, has previously given to Brown. 

Sponsors, or those who have agreed to write checks for $10,000 or raise that amount, include Leslie Mann and Judd Apatow, Joyce Klein and Gerald Breslauer, Megan and Peter Chernin, Susan and Jonathan Dolgen, Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks, Stacey Snider and Gary Jones, Sherry Lansing, Lyn and Norman Lear, Melissa Blake and Robert Orci, Mo Ostin, Norman Pattiz and Marilyn and John Wells.

Also listed as a sponsor is George L. Rose and Activision. Rose is the chief public policy officer of the game publisher. Interestingly, on Election Day, Brown's office will be defending California's ban on the sale of violent videogames to minors before the Supreme Court. The law is being challenged by game makers and publishers.

Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw, Jeffrey and Marilyn Katzenberg and David Geffen are chairing the event, which is being organized by political consultant Andy Spahn. The DreamWorks trio hosted an event last November that raised $1 million.

Other recent contributions to Brown have come from Sally Field, who donated $5,000; Kirk and Anne Douglas, who each contributed $2,500; Michael Lombardo, $5,000; and Chris Albrecht, $5,000.

Although it doesn't match Brown in scope, Whitman has drawn her own share of industry donors, including Terry Semel, Michael Ovitz, Jerry Perenchio and Michael Lynton. On Tuesday, she donated another $20 million to her campaign, bringing the total amount of her own money she is spending on the race past $140 million.

But Brown has drawn on longtime ties to the business that extend to his first tenure as governor, a factor that helped him gain a fund-raising advantage when Gavin Newsom was still in the race for the Democratic nomination.

Is there a more redundant headline this season than "Candidates spar at debate"?

That certainly was true in the third and, most probably final debate between Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman.

What was still missing was exactly how either candidate would fix the state's crippling budget deficits, but was anyone expecting a power point presentation?

To be fair, much of the debate focused on jobs, but there was also little on exactly that would be done.

I'll admit what I was waiting for in this encounter was what, if anything, would be said about the whole "whore" flap, after a tape was released last week in which someone from Brown's team referred to Whitman by that term. When moderator Tom Brokaw compared it to the "n-word," Brown said, "I do not agree with that comparison," to some audience groans, before noting that Pete Wilson, the former governor and chair of Whitman's campaign, had used the term to refer to Congress.

Prodded by Brokaw, Brown offered an apology, but Whitman didn't accept.

“It"s not just me but the people of California who deserve better than slurs." Brown then said he wondered whether it was legal to record the conversation --- referring to the state's requirement of two-party consent to tape conversations. Except this was a conversation picked up after Brown left a message on an answering machine and either he or someone in his camp didn't check to see that they had actually hung up the phone. He would have been better off just apologizing and leaving the rest unsaid. Still unknown: Who exactly called Whitman the "w-word"? Brown's wife?

Whitman apologized, again, for her voting record, but not for the $120 million she has spent, more than any other individual has spent on a race. She said it will allow her to be "independent."

Brown was feistier than in previous debates, even to the point of anger, ready to needle Whitman for her handling of her undocumented maid. "After working for her for nine years, she didn't even get her a lawyer," he said. Whitman was more confident and focused, particularly when it came to hammering home the message that her opponent is a career politician. "You have been part of the war on jobs for 40 years," she said.

Whitman probably gained more than Brown in the debate, if only because of lackluster reviews of her two previous encounters and the not-so-great response by Brown to the "w-question." Whether this makes a hill of difference is another story. After all, isn't this supposed to be about jobs?

The debate itself more pointed and polished than previous ones, largely due to the presence of Brokaw, who got his start in local news in Los Angeles. Tonight he was a crutches, because of an accident on his Wyoming ranch. Referring to California, he said, “We’re both broken at the moment. The difference is that I hope to be repaired by the end of the year.”

Highlights here.

Obama's Visit: Curiously, Brown was much more positive about President Obama than Whitman was about Sarah Palin. Obama and Palin each are trekking to California in the next 10 days. Brown says he will campaign with Obama when he's in the Golden State on Oct. 21 and 22. Whitman, however, is not campaigning with Palin at an Orange County rally this weekend. When asked about her at the debate, she noted, "She has a real following in the Republican Party, but you know that I have actually supported other presidential nominees in our party." It was a non sequitur, as Palin was running as the vice presidential nominee in 2008, and never ran for president. But Whitman did support Mitt Romney, who could be one of Palin's 2012 rivals if she gets in the race.

Obama's Visit II: Obama will be at USC for a rally on Oct. 22, as well as a fund raising reception on the campus for the Democratic National Committee. First Lady Michelle Obama will be in Los Angeles for three fund raising events on Oct. 26 and 27, including an event at the home of James Lassiter and another at the Wilshire Ebell Theater.

Rahm to Town: Also in the works is an Oct. 25 Los Angeles fund raiser for Rahm Emanuel's Chicago mayoral bid.

Franken Raises: Al Franken is billed as the special guest for a joint fund raiser on Oct. 20 for Barbara Boxer, Richard Blumenthal, Michael Bennet and Robin Carnahan. The event will be at the Bel Air home of Jamie and Chuck Meyer, with tickets starting at $1,000 per person.

Colbert's Faith: Stephen Colbert may skewer religious leaders, but some scholars see the Comedy Central host as a potent evangelist.

Taking on Critics: Jack Black and America Ferrara appear in a new video, "Liars for Hire," countering the Chamber of Commerce claims about the new healthcare law. The project was done for Health Care for America Now!