Cover: Political Animal
How Mercury News political editor Phil Trounstine covered the governor's race, then went to work for Gray Davis, the man he called 'the best governor-in-waiting' California has ever had.

News: Believing in Ferries
A billion-dollar plan to ease traffic jams with commuter ferries has the Bay Area bubbling with joy, but it won't offer much help for Silicon Valley.

Metropolis News Extras

• Cupertino: Council agrees to regulate designs of housing complexes.
  
• Los Gatos: More chains may be on horizon as rising rents hit small shops.
  
• Sunnyvale: Council works on plans for Olson's land.

Hello Out There?: While SETI scientists wait for a bleep from space, the mind plays tricks.

Dreamscapes: Tito and Tarantula conjure up some new places on Hungry Sally & Other Killer Lullabies.

Cutting Edge: Local music booker Michael Sullivan sets his sights east.

Lost in the Many Mixes: Does it really take 48 tracks to get the Olivia Tremor Control's musical point across?

Aural Fixation: Eric Fanali brings music to the masses waiting for new episode of space epic.

Unhappy Landings: Pushing Tin flies under the radar.

Bambi Meets Godzilla Again: Spike and Mike's Classic Festival of Animation pits cruelty against cuteness.

Going Bananas: In celebration of the banana, which turns up in everything from banana wine to banana ketchup.

The Widow Cancan: Opera San José kicks up its heels in a lively production of The Merry Widow.

Hobo Jungle: The vanishing lives of hobos come alive in City Lights' Old Dirty Face.

Bukowski Lives: America's gritty literary voice will never be silenced, thanks to Black Sparrow Press.