US parties aim big guns at knife-edge California

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ANAHEIM, California — US President Barack Obama is due in California this week, as his Democrats and their Republican rivals aim their big guns at the Sunshine State, facing knife-edge polls on November 2.

Former president Bill Clinton brought his star power to Los Angeles this weekend, followed closely by Republican "Mama Grizzly"-in-chief Sarah Palin, who roused the faithful at a packed rally in Orange Country, south of LA.

The Republicans are fighting tooth and nail to help wrest power from the Democrats in crucial mid-term polls -- and also to elect another Republican to succeed former film star Arnold Schwarzenegger as California governor.

The most populous state in the United States and one of its most socially liberal, California has long been a Democratic stronghold, with a massive 61 percent of its voters backed Obama in the 2008 presidential polls.

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