A baby is held down as he is given an ultrasound scan for kidney stones in a hospital in Wuhan, Hubei province.

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Earlier in the day, authorities announced the arrest of 12 more suspects in the investigation, provincial police said.

The arrests bring to 18 the number of people detained, according to the Hebei Public Security Bureau.

Twelve of those arrested are involved in the collection of milk and the production of milk products, authorities said. Authorities accuse the other six of illegally selling the chemical added to the milk.

More than 1,300 infants are hospitalized, said Li Changjiang, China’s director of quarantine and inspection, on Wednesday. Their conditions include malnutrition, kidney stones and acute renal failure. Watch mothers get their infants tested »

Inspectors have been deployed across the country to test producers’ inventories.

Of China’s 175 baby milk powder production companies, 66 have stopped production, Li said. Investigators are testing samples at the other companies.

Two brothers who sold fresh milk used to produce contaminated baby milk powder were arrested by Chinese investigators Monday. They could face death if convicted, according to China Daily, a state-run newspaper. Watch who has been arrested »

The raw milk had been watered down and a chemical added to fool quality checks, the newspaper said.

Investigators said the brothers confessed to watering down the raw milk and mixing in tripolycyanamide, also known as melamine. They said they did it to recover losses suffered when the factory rejected earlier milk shipments, the paper reported. Learn more about the chemical melamine »

The brothers are charged with producing and selling toxic and hazardous food, which carries a possible death penalty, the paper said.

Health experts say ingesting melamine can lead to kidney stones, urinary tract ulcers, and eye and skin irritation.

The chemical is commonly used in coatings and laminates, wood adhesives, fabric coatings, ceiling tiles and flame retardants.

Thousands of tons of the tainted milk powder have been recalled, including pullbacks by Mengniu Dairy Group, China’s largest milk producer, and the Sanlu Group. Watch angry parents demand answers from Sanlu »

Chinese investigators have found melamine in nearly 70 milk products from more than 20 companies, Li said Wednesday. Products made by Sanlu had the highest concentration of the chemical.

It is not the first time Sanlu has been connected to a scandal involving tainted milk powder, according to China Daily.

In 2004, at least 13 infants in the eastern Anhui province died of malnutrition after drinking milk powder that had little to no nutrition. The illegally manufactured milk was falsely labeled with the Sanlu brand, according to the paper.

The vast majority of the tainted formula was consumed domestically, but it is known to have been exported to Taiwan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Yemen, Chad and Burundi, according to Li.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said no Chinese baby formula has been allowed on the market in the United States. In a statement on its Web site, the FDA said it had reached out to all five companies making formula in the United States and none has used formula or source materials from China.

This episode marks the latest in a string of tainted products produced in China:

The European Central Bank says in a statement that it is joining with the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of  and the Swiss National Bank “to address continued elevated pressures in short-term U.S. dollar funding markets.”

The ECB says the measures are “designed to improve the liquidity conditions” in global financial markets.

The central banks say they are continuing Thursday to work together closely and will take appropriate steps to address the ongoing pressures.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery fell $1.03 to $96.13 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange midday in Singapore. Overnight, the contract rose $6.01 to settle at $97.16, after dropping $10.03 the previous two trading sessions.

Oil jumped overnight as investors fled equities to crude as a short-term safe haven amid global market turmoil.

“Oil is not viewed as safe a haven as gold, but investors consider it safer than equities,” said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with consultancy Gertz & Purvin in Singapore. “If these financial troubles lead to a world recession however, that’s going to affect demand big-time.”

The Federal Reserve earlier on Wednesday had sought to calm investor fears by rescuing troubled insurer American International Group Inc. with an $85 billion bailout loan. The emergency measure came a day after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., a 158-year-old investment bank, filed for bankruptcy after failing to find a buyer.

Stepped up attacks by Nigerian militants against the country’s oil infrastructure helped to support oil prices. In a fifth day of violence, Nigeria’s main militant group said Wednesday that it had destroyed an oil-pumping station and a pipeline crossing southern Nigeria in a rare daylight attack.

A spokesman for Nigeria’s state oil company said Wednesday that militant attacks are now cutting the country’s daily oil production by about 1 million barrels a day, 40 percent of what the country produced before the militant campaign began three years ago.

“In the last few days, militant attacks in Nigeria have been stirring up again, but that’s on the back burner right now,” Shum said. “I see downward pressure on oil in the near-term, with the key support level at $90.”

Also Wednesday, the U.S. government reported a bigger-than-expected drop in crude supplies, reflecting the shutdown of virtually all Gulf Coast oil production because of Hurricane Ike and Hurricane Gustav.

The Energy Information Administration said U.S. crude stocks fell by 6.3 million barrels for the week ending Sept. 12, much bigger than the 3.7 million barrel drop expected by analysts surveyed by energy research firm Platts expected.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures fell 2.81 cents to $2.7966 a gallon, while gasoline prices dropped 3.23 cents to $2.4307 a gallon. Natural gas for October delivery rose 17.9 cents to $8.089 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, October Brent crude rose 9 cents to $94.93 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Kadima candidate Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is the chief Israeli negotiator with the Palestinian Authority.

With a win, Livni would replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as head of the ruling party, putting her in position to take the top post.

Israeli media put her lead over Shaul Mofaz, her nearest rival and more of a hardliner, at 1.1 percent, or 431 votes.

That assessment contrasted sharply with one that emerged as the polls were closing, when television exit polls said Livni had a commanding lead.

Olmert was expected to step down as prime minister amid a corruption scandal.

If Livni wins the official count, she will be given about 42 days to form a coalition government. If she fails to do so, a national election would be held.

More than 70,000 members of Israel’s ruling Kadima Party voted Wednesday for a new party leader and potentially a new prime minister.

Mofaz had dismissed early polls, one of which showed him losing to Livni by nearly 20 percentage points. Mofaz, Israel’s transportation minister, had predicted that he would succeed Olmert.

Olmert, who has been fighting corruption charges on the one hand and trying to negotiate a new peace deal with the Palestinians on the other, has vowed to formally resign as prime minister after Kadima chooses a new party leader. He will stay on as a caretaker prime minister until the new Kadima leader forms a government.

Kadima’s new leader must hold together a fragile coalition government or face new elections that could see another party leader elected as Olmert’s successor. There are many possible scenarios that could take place in the next few months.

Ehud Barak — leader of the Labor Party, which holds the most parliamentary seats among Kadima’s coalition partners — could pull out of the coalition. That could force early elections or force the government to take on new coalition partners who could restrict the Kadima party leader’s ability to negotiate with the Palestinians.

If elections are called, Barak, a former prime minister, could vie for the top spot, but polls show he may not have enough support.

Some observers think former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, head of the opposition Likud Party, could steal the show.

Whoever succeeds Olmert will be handed a set of daunting challenges, including determining the fate of Israel’s talks with the Palestinians, its fledgling indirect talks with Syria and its tough talk on Iran’s nuclear aspirations.

Livni, who is more widely known outside Israel than her main challenger, is the chief Israeli negotiator with the Palestinian Authority as the two sides work toward a peace deal.

She refuses to be tied to the Bush administration’s vision of a peace deal by the end of this year.

“We want to reach an agreement which at the end of the agreement we can find the words ‘end of conflict,’ ” she said. “And in doing so, it takes time.”

To her supporters, she is squeaky-clean and a welcome change to Olmert, whose resignation comes amid mounting corruption charges.

“She’s very honest, very sincere, and I hope she’s going to do whatever she says,” one of her supporters said. “We have to give her a chance, and I’m willing to do it.”

Mofaz said he is in a better position to lead Israel because of his background in security issues as a former defense minister and head of the Israel Defense Forces.

“I want to say ‘yes’ to our ability to give security to the people of Israel. I want to say ‘yes’ to our ability to continue with the diplomatic process, to get peace with our neighbors,” he said.

Mofaz’s supporters are highlighting his decades of experience, compared to Livni, who they say is untested.

“He is the person with the cool head, the steadfastness and the ability to take the most difficult decisions under pressure,” according to Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim.

But some analysts have said neither candidate is up to the task of forming a new government.

The differences between the two candidates amount to not much more than “personal talents,” according to Sever Plocker, a columnist for Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonoth.

“If you ask Minister Tzipi Livni what time it is, she will say, ‘Following a comprehensive review of Israel’s position in relation to global time zones: I have a clear stance on this subject, but I won’t reveal it in the media,’ ” Plocker wrote in his column on Tuesday.

Mourners gather for a candlelight vigil after a man threw a grenade into a crowd Monday night in Morelia, Mexico.

Local officials and the U.S. ambassador insisted Mexico’s warring drug cartels were behind in the attack that killed seven people Monday night, but federal prosecutors who took over the case said they did not have enough evidence yet to link the attack to organized crime.

“I believe the narco-terrorists have gravely underestimated the courage, valor, and strength of the Mexican people,” U.S. ambassador Tony Garza said in a statement, adding: “They have crossed a line from recklessly endangering civilians in their attacks on law-enforcement officials and rival gangs, to deliberately targeting innocent men, women, and children.”

In Atlanta, Georgia, meanwhile, U.S. authorities announced the arrests of more than 500 alleged members of Mexico’s violent Gulf Cartel, and indictments against three alleged leaders of the cartel in Mexico. But while the Gulf Cartel has a strong hold on parts of Michoacan, U.S. officials said they did not believe Monday’s attack was related.

“They wouldn’t have known about this, since the indictments weren’t handed down until this morning,” Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Garrison Courtney said.

However, he cautioned that people should expect the worst from the exceptionally violent gang.

“We’re mindful they might try to retaliate,” Courtney said. “We’re preparing for that.”

Two fragmentation grenades blocks apart were used in the attack on a family friendly ceremony marking the start of Mexico’s 1810 war of independence. Seven people were killed and 108 were injured, and Mexicans’ already shaky sense of safety was further rattled.

“Mexicans will not be the same after these cowardly acts,” Michoacan Gov. Leonel Godoy said Wednesday. “But the people of Michoacan and those of Mexico are more than a cowardly act. We know how to rise above this.”

Michoacan is at the center of Mexico’s drug wars. Two of the main drug gangs are believed to be battling for control of lucrative drug routes that include Michoacan’s Lazaro Cardenas port, its remote Pacific coastline and its relatively unpopulated pine-covered mountains.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has sent more than 25,000 troops to drug hotspots around the country, beginning in late 2006 with Michoacan. After Monday’s attack, he pledged an immediate military response, and he headed Wednesday to Morelia — his hometown — to announce the details.

The attack on the general public appeared to represent a new tactic in the intensifying war between drug cartels and federal authorities. Previously, most violence — including assassinations, massacres and beheadings — targeted rivals, police or soldiers.

Witnesses said a man in his late 20s dressed in black threw a grenade, then begged for forgiveness as another grenade exploded nearby. They provided enough details for a composite sketch, which was distributed to police agencies in surrounding states, according to Michoacan Attorney General Miguel Garcia.

He announced a 24-hour hotline to handle the flood of anonymous tips, many of which he called unsubstantiated, and urged the public to come forward with any photos or video taken during the attacks.

The federal Attorney General’s office, which is leading the investigation, said authorities are looking into illegal arms charges, but do not yet have enough evidence to say for sure that drug cartels were responsible. No arrests have been made and officials declined to say if anyone had claimed responsibility.

Mexicans said the attack made them feel more vulnerable than ever.

“Before we were safe, but now we walk around afraid,” said Sandra Munoz, 22, who stopped in a Morelia church on her way to work to light a candle for the dead. “Everyone is unsafe now.”

Besides having to make voting decisions in this year’s Governor and U. S. Senator election races, there are six other partisan state constitutional office contests about which voters will have to decide.

These include Lt. Governor, State Attorney General, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Controller, and Insurance Commissioner.

A statewide Field Poll survey measured the name recognition and image appraisals of twenty candidates whose declaration to run for the six offices had been provided to the Secretary of State’s office, as of early last week. Results show that for the most part the candidates running for these offices are not very well known statewide.

Secretary of State Race

More voters are able to identify Democratic challenger Michela Alioto than her incumbent opponent Republican Bill Jones in the Secretary of State contest. While Alioto is known to 26% of the voters, her image profile (15% favorable vs. 11% unfavorable) is not as positive as is Jones’, whose favorable to unfavorable ratio is 15% to 4%.

MICHELA ALIOTO remembers being discouraged by employees of San Francisco theaters from attending the latest blockbuster films because they were full and she was confined to a wheelchair.

“You learn to say ‘no’ to such efforts to restrict access to public facilities,” she says today. “You come to realize that things don’t come easily and you have to fight for them.”

When Alioto encountered such barriers as a teen-ager in the 1980s, the strong-willed paraplegic would sometimes gain admission “by claiming I had all these rights as an American, even though I didn’t.”

The Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires that public facilities be made accessible to the disabled, hadn’t been enacted then, and wouldn’t be for another decade. Even since the law was passed, it hasn’t always been followed.

As a UCLA student in 1990, Michela went to vote and found that being in a wheelchair made it impossible for her to use the voting booth. She called the registrar of voters and asked if there was another, accessible voting facility she could use.

“The woman said, ‘There is nothing I can do for you,’ recalls Michela.”

“I asked, ‘What should I do?’”

“She said, ‘Frankly, that’s not my problem. It’s your problem.’”

Last Friday, Michela Alioto, now 29, went to the courthouse in Napa County and filed papers making her a candidate for secretary of state, the chief election officer in California.

Her goal is to make voting “as simple as going to the market and buying a loaf of bread.”

“Even though ADA has been in effect most of this decade,” she says, “Not all voting places are accessible. I’m not so sure things have changed that much.”

Now one of the promising new faces in California politics, Alioto addresses a 7 p.m. Wednesday gathering of the Alameda Democratic Club. The meeting will be held in the Italian-American Hall, 2712 Encinal Ave., and is open to the public — “Even Republicans,” says Angie Watson, vice president of programs. Cheryl Hightower, a candidate for Alameda County superintendent of schools, also will speak.

Alioto is best remembered for seconding the nomination of her former boss, Vice President Al Gore, at the 1996 Democratic Convention. She is a member of the famous San Francisco family that produced one of the city’s most colorful mayors, Joseph L. Alioto; controversial city Supervisor Angela Alioto; and Michela’s father, Joseph M. Alioto, an anti-trust attorney who once sought to become governor.

Now a resident of St. Helena and part-owner of Amici Winery, Michela remains in touch with Gore. She first met him in the mid-1980s when her parents formed the American Paralysis Association. He showed an interest in the organization, now headed by actor Christopher Reeves, and Michela worked for his presidential campaign in 1988.

When the Clinton-Gore ticket was forged in 1992, she became its disability constituency coordinator.

She was part of the transition team after the election and joined the vice president’s domestic policy staff.

Michela returned to California and ran against Republican Congressman Frank Riggs in 1996, losing a close race.

Some observers thought she might seek that seat again since Riggs is running for the Senate, but instead she has chosen to try to unseat Republican Secretary of State Bill Jones.

She says it better serves her goal of opening doors and making California a better place.

“We have 19 million eligible voters,” she says. “Of those, we have 14 million who register to vote. Of the 14 million, 10 million actually vote. So only half the people eligible are voting. As the chief election officer for the state, I think the main goal is to increase voter participation.”

Disabled citizens aren’t the only Californians with restricted voting opportunities, says Alioto, singling out young people, the elderly, working mothers and mothers with newborns.

Possible turnout remedies

Motor voter registration, on-line registration and voting, and extension of permanent absentee ballot status to anyone who wants it, are possible remedies to falling voter turnout.

“As the computer and high-tech hub of the world, California should have pilot programs for online voting,” she says. “We should be using technology for voting. This is California for pete’s sake.”

She says voter fraud is the big issue for Jones, but focusing on it has come at the expense of voter participation.

“Obviously, we can’t have fraud,” Alioto says. “But when you have only 10 million of 20 million people voting, we should be encouraging people to vote, showing our young people they can be come part of the process.”

“In the past four years, voter registration has gone down 4 percent. That is a travesty when the main responsibility of your office is to make sure people vote. We need to be more pro-active and inclusive, not exclusionary.”

Says her age is an asset

She also says young Californians are underrepresented in government and that her age may be an asset rather than a liability.

Alioto was paralyzed in 1981 when a chair lift derailed at Heavenly Valley Ski Resort in South Lake Tahoe. She was 12 at the time. At age 17, she became the youngest person on President Reagan’s National Council on Disabilities Advisory Board. She also chaired a science and technology committee of the United States-Japan summit conferences on disabilities.

“Today I forget I have a disability,” she says. “The questions start coming up around campaign time.”

The oldest of four children, Michela says her parents taught them that we could do whatever we wanted to with our lives, but it is important to do something that gives back to the community.

One lesson Michela has learned from being disabled is “that society can close its doors on minorities. It is our responsibility to make sure it remains open.”

“Whatever avenues I have to take to do that, I’ll do,” she says. “Right now, it’s politics.”

California voters will be presented with a clear choice this year in the Secretary of State race. Incumbent Bill Jones has made reducing voter fraud and purging “deadwood” from the voter rolls his priorities. Michela Alioto’s goal, conversely, is to activate and inspire approximately 9 million eligible voters who are not currently voting.

“My goal is to make it easier to vote, and to increase participation within the political system,” Alioto remarks.

Alioto supported the motor voter law which allowed voter registation at DMV, and Jones opposed it. Alioto favors same-day registration, online registration, and various other measures designed to increase voter turnout. Jones disagrees.

Alioto, similar to former interim Secretary of State Tony Miller, also believes the office should be designated as nonpartisan, much like the Office of Superintendant of Public Instruction. Jones, conversely, has established a highly partisan record since taking office nearly four years ago.

“(Jones) wants a very segregated group showing up at the polls,” Alioto comments, referring to the incumbent’s tendency to fight voter fraud only when it involves Democratic constituencies such as the Latinos who voted for Loretta Sanchez in 1996.

Alioto points out that Jones thoroughly investigted the unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in that case, while he backed off when Republican Assemblyman Scott Baugh was accused of gross violations of ethics in a successful 1995 recall election.

“I think we should have zero tolerance for voter fraud,” Alioto explains, “but we should also ensure that all those who are eligible to vote be enabled and encouraged to vote.”

Because of her personal experience with disabilities and her outreach to youths, Alioto has become intimately aware of the failures of California officials to encourage certain groups to vote. She says that many polling places are not accessble to people like herself who use wheelchairs, and many young people are not even aware that they become eligible to vote at age 18.

To alleviate the first problem, Alioto says that she would propose that California take necessary steps to ensure that all polling places be wheelchair-friendly.

Regarding the low awareness of young potential voters, Alioto proposes a statewide program to increase the interest of high school students in the political process. The program, Alioto suggests, could be modeled after the Presidential fitness contest which currently takes place annually.

“We need to be more proactive,” she contends. “When people are turning 18 there should be some type of outreach.”

According to Alioto, voter turnout is unacceptably low in California. “Of the 19 million eligible voters in California,” she notes, “14 million are registered to vote, and about 10 million actually vote. That leaves at least 9 million who are not voting, which is more than the population of entire states.”

Despite this crisis in voter participation, Alioto points out, the current Secretary of State hs employed “poll guards” and called for increased identification requirements before voting. “We’re supposed to be doing the opposite,” she declares. “This is America, not Communist China.”

The list of areas in which Alioto differs from Jones continues. During the Jones years, as reporters, researchers, and others know all too well, the Secretary of State’s office has not been one of the more efficient agencies in the California government.

One regular user of the office sums it up. “The Secretary of State is not user friendly,” the source comments. “If you don’tknow exactly what you need, you wonit get it.” Long lines, slow response to requests, and incomplete or poorly organized reports are widely-cited problems which have persisted throughout the Jones era.

Many Secretary of State regulars also question whether the agency will provide comprehensive Internet access to records in a timely manner, as promised.

Alioto says that making the office more user-friendly, in part through rapid transition to the Internet of all records, is one of her top priorities.

Reducing unnecessary bureaucracy is clearly linked to the process of making the office more user-friendly, Alioto explains. “The cost associated with bureaucracy is incredible,” she notes.

Few are better qualified to address the issue, because she spent two and a half years working with Vice President Al Gore in his reknowned “Reinventing Government” program. While serving as a transition liaison and policy advisor, Alioto learned that government can provide more services to the public if the process is streamlined.

“The Secretary of State’s office has been so bureaucratic, and it has not changed with the times,” Alioto says.

Her time in the Clinton administration was one of many learning experiences that has shaped her. Another was her 1996 Congressional race against ultra-conservative Frank Riggs.

In one of the more interesting and controversial rces that year, Riggs narrowly defeated Alioto after viciously attacking her in a barrage of paid media spots during the final weeks of the campaign.

“It’s a very humbling expereince to actually be out there campaigning,” she recalls. “I put 60,000 miles on my car in that camapign — we were everywhere.”

Onlookers attributed Alioto’s loss to everything from poor management, to low voter trunout, to unethical campaigning by Riggs. In one account, it was suggested that Alioto lacked the roots in the district which were necessary to gain the support of her constiuents.

Alioto disagrees with those who would contend that she ran a poor campaign. “We did run a very good campaign, and I learned a lot,” she remarks.

One thing that she learned is that negative campaigning can truly damage a candidate, and few limits exist as to what a candidate can say on an advertisement. “(Riggs’) ads were unbelieveable,” Alioto contends, “We need campaign ethics reform…because advertising needs to be accurate.”

A member of the famous San Francisco political family headed by her legendary grandfater Joe, Alioto has learned to respect the political process. “I was taught that politics is an honorable profession,” she notes. “I’m very proud of my family, and I have always realized how fortunate I was growing up in that setting.”

The positive name recognition she has developed as a member of a noteworthy family, and as an official in the Clinton Administration, has positioned Alioto as an extremely formidable challenger to Bill Jones. Recent polls show Alioto with higher name recognition than the incumbent, a rare occurence in politics.

The stark contrast between the philosophies of the two candidates should make for a highly substantive race. Alioto hopes that voters agree with her that inclusiveness and efficiency should be the priorities of the next Secretary of State.

“I am really struck by the amount of apathy I have seen among young people,” Alioto concludes. “By targeting the youth, I think I can make a difference in a positive way.”

Two Democratic candidates for statewide office stumped in Stockton Wednesday, looking to sway some Central Valley conservative voters and raise campaign money from loyal supporters.

Michela Alioto, the 31-year-old scion of one of San Francisco�s most powerful, most popular Democratic families, a candidate for secretary of state, described her plans to improve voter turnout to a packed lunch meeting of the Stockton Rotary Club.

A few hours later, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gray Davis was feted at a Morada fund-raiser where hundreds of Northern California prosecutors and San Juaquin County Democrats raised nearly $20,000 for his campaign.

Davis made law enforcement and education the focuses of his 15-minute speech.

“None of us in Sacramento can catch criminals. You do,” he said to prosecutors and other lawyers at the event. “I will try to give you the tools and resources and will listen to you. I understand our obligation to keep people safe.”

Davis referred to the 1989 fatal shootings of five children on the playground at Stockton�s Cleveland School. “I will enforce an assault-weapons ban,” he said.

Davis also said he hopes to reduce the fees students pay to attend state universities and to devote more money to primary education.

The fund raiser was sponsored by Prosecutors for Gray Davis, a broad coalition of 350 district attorneys, assistant district attorneys and deputy district attorneys. Among those who attended were San Francisco District Attorney Terrance Hallihan and numerous Bay Area and Central Valley prosecutors.

The fund-raiser was hosted by a group of San Joaquin deputy district attorneys who said Davis best represents their interests in prosecuting crime.

“He supports local government fighting crime,” San Joaquin County prosecutor N. Allen Sawyer said, adding that he swung his support toward Davis one night after prosecuting a difficult domestic-violence case.

Sawyer said he turned on the television and saw Davis� Republican opponent, Attorney General Dan Lungren, holding an emergency news conference on medicinal marijuana.

“It just seems like he didn�t have the right priority to me,” Sawyer said. “He�s wrapped up there in Sacramento. Davis seems less divisive and more likely to back us down here�He supports helping counties and local government fighting crime.”

The group�s support comes less than a month after a group of district attorneys blasted Davis for suggesting they had not invested enough resources in speeding the judicial process in criminal cases.

Earlier this week, Lungren charged that Davis, who is leading by 12 points in the most recent Field Poll, has been taking credit for tough criminal laws he didn�t write or even support.

Davis, who was chief of staff for Jerry Brown when Brown was governor, has worked to distance himself from Brown�s liberal agenda and campaigned hard on his record of backing the death penalty and the state�s three-strikes law.

“We know Dan Lungren thinks he has the lock on law enforcement, � but this event shows how much support Davis really has from the prosecutors,” said Jim Askew, a Stockton attorney and a member of the fund-raising committee.

“This event is not just Democrats. It�s the prosecutors supporting someone they think will do the best job,” he said

Earlier in the day Michela Alioto championed programs to make it easier for citizens to vote and to teach young people the importance of citizenship and political participation.

Of the 20 million Californians eligible to vote in the June primary election, 15 million were registered, and only 6 million actually cast ballots.

Those least likely to vote were young: Just 8 percent of citizens in their 20s voted, according to the secretary of state�s office.

“I think the message is a very clear one, Alioto said. “we are not doing what we need to do to invigorate and pull young people into the political process.”

She cited improvements in other states as examples California could follow. Alioto said she would consider vote-by-mail, a program that churned up the vote in Oregon; same-day registration and voting, a successful project in Wisconsin and Maine; and online voting, such as is offered military personnel in Florida.

“Technology is our invention. It belongs to California, and we can do more with it,” said Alioto, who two years ago waged an unsuccessful campaign for a Bay Area congressional seat after working on Vice President Al Gore�s domestic policy team.

Alioto may not win many votes from the Stockton Rotary, where a member joked that there were no more than two Democrats in the crowd and bragged about “being to the right of the Hun.”

But members said Alioto inspired the liveliest discussion they�d seen lately. After giving her presentation, Alioto asked for questions, suggesting the group turn the event into an open discussion.

“This is an opportunity for me to learn,” she said, “and I�d like to take it, to be frank.”

Many members said they supported her plan to review the way civics is taught in schools to foster better voter participation. “It seems to me there needs to be a much more serious focus on responsibilities of citizenship,” Stockton lawyer Chris Papas said, adding that he didn�t think Alioto won many votes from the crowd.

Several members questioned the need to try harder to get people to vote, suggesting it would result in more registered Democrats. Others wanted to hear her support voter identification, a Republican-backed plan.

The discussion lasted beyond the lunch, winning Alioto support from several members. “I think she got people involved in discussion, and discussion is what this country is all about,” former Stockton librarian Ursula Meyer said. “This club is very concerned with youths, and she got them talking about that.”

Businesswoman Kathryn Rousek didn�t say for whom she�ll vote Alioto or incumbent Bill Jones, but she said Alioto “was outstanding.”

Alioto, behind Jones by 6 percentage points in the latest Field Poll, released two weeks ago, is campaigning throughout the state during the next several weeks.