No rest for the weary: Congressman Mike Honda spent his birthday weekend hopping from one fundraiser to the next.

Here comes the clutter of political advertisements. The public's least favorite time of year, when mailboxes are full of negative mailers and television ads assault the senses. First rule to remember: there is nothing that can't be said in politics, no matter how outrageous the claim.

There is a reason Mike Fox Sr. and his wife Mary Ellen are revered in this valley—their generosity seemingly has no bounds. Their latest endeavor, which featured former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn, raised money for Habitat for Humanity, a project started by Carter after his presidency.

District Attorney Jeff Rosen has been touting his swollen campaign piggy bank to the press as a warning to potential challengers in 2014, and a re-election fundraiser hosted by beer distributor and philanthropist Mike Fox Sr. earlier this month, which included former San Jose Police Chief Chris Moore among guests, only added to the $131,000-plus Rosen raised in the first six months of this year. But word is the DA’s already strong chances of staying in office will get the kind of Series-A funding startups love. A group of Sand Hill tech investors are in the process of forming an independent expenditure (IE) committee to support Rosen, and they’ve approached Democratic operative Jude Barry to manage it.