The Modesto City Council will have a closed-door meeting starting at 3 p.m. Monday to discuss negotiations with the six unions representing city employees.

Obama used the cyberworld to generate support across the country, to advance his public appearances and rallies and to get his message out. He used it to recruit and motivate younger voters who get the majority of their information online. Perhaps most significantly, he used it to raise money.

With jobs disappearing, retirement savings shrinking and home values plunging, voters will bring a full plate of worries with them to the ballot box Nov. 3.

If district elections are meant to give a voice to the voiceless, it's District 2 that some say most needs that voice. Residents from the area led the fight for district elections, arguing that Latinos are underrepresented on the City Council.

Community activist Robert Stanford said Modesto is on the brink of becoming a ghost town destroyed by out-of-control development. Joe Muratore, a commercial real estate consultant, painted the city as a mecca for young, educated professionals. Jeff Perine, a teacher at a juvenile justice facility, fell somewhere in between. He said Modesto must solve serious problems such as gang violence and drugs before it can shine.

The candidate who wins Modesto's District 4 City Council seat will represent an area that spans Modesto's extremes. The district covers the La Loma area, where some of Modesto's most expensive houses are, and the airport neighborhood, which struggles with poverty and crime. Who are the three candidates?

Joe Muratore Campaign Finance Disclosure Forms.

Which Modesto City Council candidate is getting money from developers? Which candidates are getting financial support from Stanislaus County Supervisors and members of the Modesto City Council? And just who are these people who donate and what do they do? Click on this headline to find out?

Jeff Perine Campaign Finance Disclosure Forms.

Robert Stanford Campaign Finance Disclosure Forms.

Al Nava Campaign Finance Disclosure Forms.

Dave Geer Campaign Finance Disclosure Forms.

Kristen Olsen Campaign Finance Disclosure Forms.

Joe Cataline Campaign Finance Disclosure Forms

November marks the end of an era for an unlikely tag team on the Modesto City Council — Will O'Bryant, a Democrat and retired sheriff's detective, and Janice Keating, a Republican accountant.

Kristin Olsen still has the biggest campaign war chest among Modesto City Council candidates this fall, but she hasn't collected much more cash for her re-election bid since early this summer.

A first-time Modesto City Council candidate said he didn't want to engage in "mudslinging" at the start of a Thursday night debate, but proceeded to liken his opponent to Richard Nixon as he sought to exploit an anti-government sentiment to make a case for change at City Hall.

November's first-ever district elections will let voters pick someone from their own neighborhood to be their voice at City Hall. In north-central Modesto's District 5, voters also get a chance to say whether they're happy with the status quo. The race between Councilwoman Kristin Olsen, 35, and newcomer Joe Cataline, 25, is the only one of the city's three council races with an incumbent on the ballot.

Two candidates aiming to represent south and west Modesto on the City Council on Tuesday said the city's switch to district elections would give the poverty- and crime-plagued neighborhoods a chance to get the attention they deserve.

Modesto City Manager Greg Nyhoff continues to shuffle the highest level of Modesto government to his liking 15 months after he became the city's top executive. The City Council on Tuesday adjusted two departments — Finance and Human Resources — to reflect changes Nyhoff wanted.

Candidates aiming to represent south and west Modesto on the City Council will face off tonight in a League of Women Voters forum at the King-Kennedy Memorial Center, 601 S. Martin Luther King Drive.

Modesto's first district elections will usher in a new era, with voters choosing City Council candidates from their own neighborhoods.

A switch to district elections isn't the only change coming to Modesto politics this fall. Candidates in the City Council race skew young, with five of the seven contenders in their 20s and 30s. With most current council members in their 50s and 60s, that means the Nov. 3 election will bring fresh blood to the council in more ways than one.

Yard signs, protests at City Council meetings, letters to the editor. The Modesto Police Officers Association flexed political muscle this spring when the nearly 200-member union battled with the city over budget cuts that threatened officers' jobs.

The following is a questionnaire sent out by The Bee to candidates for the November 2009 election. Candidates supplied the answers, and they are being published it their unedited form.