THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE:

Steve Young, Democratic congressional candidate against Rep. John Campbell, recently decided he was not going to attend a national civil forum between presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and presumptive Republican nominee John McCain at Saddleback Church moderated by the church’s pastor Rick Warren.

Young claims that the church is charging a large amount of money for tickets to the event, which is essential fundraising for the church.

For Young, this is a violation of church and state. He will instead have a watch party at his office.

But a spokeswoman for Saddleback Church and the event said the ticket funds were anything but a profit-making venture.

Saddleback has incurred substantial costs in producing the event, including catering, a satellite feed system, a media room with phones and wireless Internet, and other costs to prepare the venue, spokeswoman Whitney Kelluy said.

“It is a pretty hefty investment when you start talking production of it,” Kelluy said.

All the funds raised by the ticket sales will go toward recouping costs, she said.

Any additional funds made by the event will go toward a national charitable group called Peace Plan that Warren works with, Kelluy said.

Kelluy couldn’t comment on the total costs incurred by the church, and she couldn’t confirm ticket price amounts.

She added that tickets were necessary to help with security for the event.

Young said ticket prices ranged from $500 up to thousands of dollars, and questioned the costs of the event.

“It just doesn’t add up,” he said. “If this was really a forum, and not a fundraiser, they would not charge for the seats.”

Group calls offshore drilling a ‘gimmick’

The Irvine chapter of Moveon.org gathered at noon Thursday in front of Rep. John Campbell’s district office in Newport Beach to deliver petitions regarding offshore drilling.

The petitioners called Campbell’s claims regarding offshore drilling a “gimmick” and stated offshore drilling will not help Americans during the energy crisis right now.

The organization claims that it has 250,000 national signatures to date supporting their position.

The petition reads “America must commit to producing 100% of our electricity from cheap, clean renewable energy sources, like solar and wind, within 10 years.”

Campbell wasn’t in his district office during the petition signing on Thursday.

The congressman was traveling Wednesday, and he was not available for comment.

DANIEL TEDFORD may be reached at (714) 966-4632 or at daniel.tedford@latimes.com.