November arrives in the morning, and the end of campaign season is in sight...

TAKING IT TO THE STREETS: As a young reporter 30-some years ago recently assigned to cover the city of Oxnard, one of the first things I did to get a feel for the heartbeat of the community was to visit the youth boxing club in La Colonia. I met some remarkable adults who were making a positive difference in the lives of young people. Give credit to Republican congressional candidate Tony Strickland for doing the same thing.

His outreach resulted in an endorsement from Oxnard professional boxer David Rodela, which Strickland is now touting in a Spanish-language campaign mailer.

It's difficult to say what, if any, effect Strickland's efforts will have in influencing the Latino vote in Oxnard, given the heavily Democratic preference of Latino voters in California in recent years. but his outreach efforts do seem considerably more authentic than what we've seen from other Republican candidates in the recent past.

CHEVRON DIGS DEEP TO GO AFTER LOIS CAPPS: Andrew Ross, the San Francisco Chronicle's muckraking business columnist, reports that Bay Area-based Chevron Corp. has made the biggest contribution to a super PAC of any American corporation -- to a group that has been aggressively attacking Democratic congressional candidates, including Lois Capps of Santa Barbara.

His column reports that Chevron has contributed $2.3 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, the super PAC that has spent $425,000 attacking Capps in the Santa Barbara-based 24th Congressional District.

It's a significant story because, as Ross notes, big companies have not typically contributed to super PACs, which have heretofore been mostly the domain of wealthy individuals and ideologically based interest groups.

TODD ZINK 'THROWING IN THE TOWEL?' HARDLY: Perhaps out of a sense of wishful thinking, backers of Sen. Fran Pavley are pointing to the fact that Republican 27th Senate District candidate Todd Zink has returned $140,000 in campaign funds as evidence that his campaign may be conceding defeat.

I think that's bunk. It is true that Zink this week returned $100,000 to the San Luis Obispo County Republican Party and another $40,000 to the Sacramento County GOP -- but he has also this week received big new contributions from the state Republican Party and has been the beneficiary of large new independent expenditures.

The move has the look of some internal, Republican Party accounting maneuvers and nothing else.

A LITTLE HELP FROM HER FRIENDS: Pavley's campaign is promoting a couple online video testimonials, including one from actor Ed Begley Jr. of Ojai and another from comic actor Dick Van Dyke..

Begley's testimonial focuses on clean cars and Pavley's accomplishments as a legisator in promoting energy-efficient vehicles. In his testimonial, Van Dyke salutes Pavley for her work in helping to keep film production in the Los Angeles area.