10:38 PM PST on Wednesday, December 30, 2009

By JIM MILLER
Sacramento Bureau

The Sacramento area will be represented, as will Orange County, California’s Central Coast and greater Fresno. The Los Angeles and San Francisco regions will have sizable contingents.

But when voters go to the polls in the spring, their ballots likely will lack any candidates for statewide office who hail from Riverside or San Bernardino counties. And that’s nothing new.

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By STU WOO

Facing a $21 billion shortfall through June 2011, California leaders want billions of dollars in budget relief from Washington that could head off deep cuts expected to state programs.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will ask the White House to waive rules that require the state to spend its own money on certain programs to receive federal funds, according to California officials briefed on the Republican’s coming budget proposal.

Such relief, combined with additional stimulus funds, could save the state as much as $8 billion in the next 18 months, the officials said.

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