Madison Nguyen’s third place finish in the San Jose mayor’s race hasn’t left her completely in the cold. While she didn’t make the runoff, an interesting recruitment dynamic is now taking shape.

The 21st annual comedy show Monday Night Live! starred some of Silicon Valley’s biggest political players eschewing personal dignity for the sake of raising money for the San Jose Stage Company. For that we thank them.

“Cortese ‘not afraid to say no'” to special interests, thundered a polished mailer from the Dave Cortese San Jose mayoral campaign. That might seem like typical candidate-speak, but the mailer actually quotes the Mercury News. But the Merc is accusing Cortese of deliberately "lying with the facts."

Magdalena Carrasco stunned everyone by mollywhopping Xavier Campos in last week’s election rematch, but the newest San Jose councilmember-elect didn’t do it alone. In fact, one could argue she barely did it herself.

Political horse whisperer Carl Guardino is pushing to get a transportation sales tax on the November ballot. But his support of Sam Liccardo in the San Jose mayor's race could hamper those efforts.

A man is only as good as his word, and some South County farmers are putting Dennis Kennedy to the test. A comment Kennedy made last year about not running for re-election if appointed to the Santa Clara Valley Water District is now under close inspection.

Casino M8trix owners are accused of operating a $119 million shell game to hide profits. While the key players have clammed up, there is an election at hand and political points to be won and lost.

Councilmembers in San Jose can be a notoriously tardy bunch. But it appears the mayor’s race has been especially time consuming for a couple of elected officials, who have been showing up late to meetings. And their colleagues are more than a little annoyed.

It’s May, which means Sunnyvale Councilman Pat Meyering is once again in the what’s-up-with-that-guy spotlight. A group that includes former elected officials is now trying to get him recalled.

No one in the San Jose mayor’s race received enough votes to get an endorsement from the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce PAC, but it appears the committee considers one candidate especially bad for business.

Wading into the politics of San Jose’s Vietnamese community can be a hazardous endeavor. Several of the candidates running for mayor already knew that. Rose Herrera is now one of them.

The East Bay city's former administrator, Deanna Santana, may be among the final round of candidates applying for a job as Sunnyvale city manager.

San Jose Inside's company parent, Metro, picked up some newspaper siblings this week when it acquired the Gilroy Dispatch, Morgan Hill Times, Hollister Free Lance and Good Times in Santa Cruz.

Ken Scudder, Congressman Mike Honda's communications director, reassured Fly this week that his boss is committed to keeping constituents informed about what he does in Congress. But for all the partisan sparring going on D.C., Honda seems awfully nervous to take off the gloves and discuss the issues here at home.

The South Bay political machine knows how to orchestrate high strategy better than just about anybody, but fallout from the San Jose mayor’s race could lead to one awkward encounter next year.

Politics can make for strange bedfellows, but there was something surreal about last week’s re-election kickoff party for Sheriff Laurie Smith.