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Endorsement-hunting season has begun in the Midpeninsula by several candidates for Ira Ruskin's state Assembly seat next year. The 21st Assembly District covers northern Santa Clara County and southern San Mateo County.

Hal Plotkin, a member of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District Board, is definitely in the race for Ruskin's to-be-vacant seat next year, along with Palo Alto City Councilwoman Yoriko Kishimoto.

In addition, San Mateo County Supervisor Rich Gordon is a not-yet-announced candidate and Supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson is considering running.

"It's no secret that I'm actively looking at this," Gordon said. "I expect to have a formal announcement, probably within a week.

"During this exploratory period, I've been very encouraged by the folks I've been talking to. I think I would be able to put together a very good campaign team." He said he didn't want to reveal his endorsements until he made his formal announcement.

Jacobs Gibson confirmed that she is considering running for the seat. She said she's not ready to make any announcements yet, but that she is looking at her future options -- as her last term on the Board of Supervisors will expire in 2012.

"Given the fact that Assemblyman Ira Ruskin's seat will be open, it makes sense to at least consider it," she said. "There are members of the public who think I should consider it."

Plotkin said he is a good team-builder and "I am determined to do what I can to push our state beyond the polarized politics that have paralyzed us."

He cited an "innovation agenda" such as he has pursued at Foothill-De Anza "is the way out" of the state's fiscal and political problems -- "not bigger government, not smaller government but better government," he said in an e-mail to the Weekly.

Better government through innovation is "the bridge across the current divide," he said, adding that he has been "blown away" by the early support he has gotten, including from all other members of the college district board and former longtime Assemblyman John Vasconcellos.

"It means a lot to me that the people I work with most closely are all standing behind me," he said.