On November 1, KQED Radio (San Francisco) broadcast a 30-minute interview with Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi has steadfastly refused to debate any of her three opponents. Her three opponents are independent Cindy Sheehan, Libertarian Phil Berg, and Republican Dana Walsh. They have debated each other several times, but Pelosi has never been willing to be included.

Supporters of some of Pelosi’s opponents protested inside the offices of KQED while Pelosi was being interviewed, since the station is not offering 30-minute interviews with any of them, as individual candidates. After at least ten minutes of argument with station representatives, the station finally relented and allowed Sheehan (who was present at the protest) to phone in a question to Pelosi, who answered it on-air. Thanks to IndependentPoliticalReport, one can watch 13 minutes of this interesting exchange. Sheehan’s question was about impeachment.

On October 31, Hawaii’s Vital Statistics Office told the press that they have verified the validity of Barack Obama’s birth certificate in that state. See this article. Thanks to the commenters who made me aware of this news. Apparently, besides Phil Berg’s lawsuit in Pennsylvania over Obama’s citizenship, there have been somewhat parallel lawsuits filed and already dismissed in Ohio, Hawaii, and Washington state, and perhaps others.

In September 2008, former California State Senator Steve Peace (D-San Diego) had filed a proposed initiative with the California Attorney General. However, according to the Sacramento Bee of October 31, he has withdrawn his own initiative. The article does not explain why. However, the initiative had been flawed. Perhaps Peace withdrew it so that he, or someone else, could do a better job of drafting it. Thanks to Kevin Takenaga for this news.