Five million dollars is up for grabs, and a slice of the pie only requires a good idea and a Twitter account.

Dave Cortese’s campaign in the San Jose mayor’s race has a couple new faces—and one unusual new storyline. Just a year ago his new spokesman, Jay Reed, was making painfully sexist jokes on Twitter. UPDATE: Dave Cortese has fired spokesman Jay Reed.

In the digital age, election season never really hits its stride until opposing campaign staffers start beefing on Twitter. On Sunday, Andy Wong, a staffer for congressional candidate Ro Khanna, fired a tweet across the bow when he noted that Congressman Mike Honda (D-Fremont) had skipped his second candidate forum in as many days. Political consultant Barry Barnes noted in a reply tweet that Honda still nabbed endorsements from both forum hosts despite being absent, and the politician’s “track record speaks for itself.” And that’s when things started to get a little nasty.

According to the May 2013 Pew Research Center report, “Teens, Social Media, and Privacy,” teens are changing their habits when it comes to choosing social media and how much information they make public. Parents be advised.

Larry Esquivel inherited San Jose’s chief of police position without ever putting his name up for consideration. In fact, none of the San Jose Police Department’s deputy chiefs showed a genuine interest in the job, leaving the applicant pool to some uninterested and/or unqualified candidates outside of the area. But Esquivel is learning the ropes, and a perusal of his Twitter account shows a man who loves emoticons, classic cars and ... the Mercury News? Yes, the Mercury News.