By CARLA MARINUCCI, San Francisco Chronicle

SAN FRANCISCO -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she will step in if necessary to make sure the presidential nomination fight between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama does not reach the Democratic National Convention -- though she believes it could be resolved as early as next week.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- In California, the nation's most populous state, the single largest bloc of committed delegates for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton had a feisty message for the Democratic presidential hopeful this weekend: hang tough and stay in the race.

Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's crucial Pennsylvania primary victory last week came with the help of a patchwork of political support: working-class voters, seniors, white men, Catholics, women and -- maybe even the Great Satan.

With North Carolina and Indiana taking center stage in the political slugfest between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the next critical primaries could be shaped by political dirty tricks from outside their campaigns.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, weighing in on the presidential race, said that both Republican candidate John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama are on the right track in "talking about bringing people together" across partisan lines.

New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton holds a commanding lead among Latinos and women in California, but 1 in 5 voters is still undecided with the state's Feb. 5 primary just two weeks away, a new Field Poll shows.

SAN FRANCISCO -- They're done with the hog farms and those quaint hamlets pumping out maple syrup.

SAN FRANCISCO -- For months, Democratic presidential candidate Sen.