So far, it ooks like a draw to me:

1.) Both are addressing voters only in the geographic areas where they already have good name recognition - HBJ in Santa Barbara County, Tony in Ventura County; and

2.) Neither has taken a position yet on anything that is likely to ignite the support of anyone except their current base; and

3.) Both of them do not have web sites that are yet fully functional - although HBJ has a slight edge on her "work in progress" - but neither side seems to be doing much successfully to drive undecided to those sites or to volunteer in their respective campaigns.

I score it 0-0, but it is still early in so far has been a very dull game.

I disagree. Tony Strickland has editorials being published, a Facebook account, and his campaign is organizing precinct walks. Is Hannah Beth Jackson doing any of this in Santa Barbara County and I am missing it?

Hannah-Beth's web site has gained significant functionality in the last few hours, Harold. Go back and take a look. They are still working the kinks out, though. A site with this sort of interactivity takes some time to build.

Brian, this is a fun game you're proposing, but I don't know how you can possibly keep up with everything both campaigns are doing. Are you having somebody monitor all the Santa Barbara County publications, too? How about their TV stations? Do you receive KEYT there in Simi? How about their local access channel? Ventura's access channel? Their local city blog? How do you know she hasn't placed an editorial somewhere and you haven't missed it?

How would you monitor fund-raising successes and innovations unless you were working directly with the campaigns?

Will you come out and listen to Hannah-Beth speak on Friday in Ventura? Jill Martinez will also be there.

Sorry, Facebook doesn't impress me. Sixteen-year-olds don't vote.

Marie,

1. Young people might not all vote but they want to change this country and get involved. Do you think a traditional campaign activates this group of people?

2. A large majority of Facebook users are over eighteen.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/06/facebook-users-up-89-over-last-year-demographic-shift/
I would think a campaign would want to appeal to people online that don't traditionally come out to events. I know Tony Strickland is trying to get these people involved. It isn't expensive or time consuming. She just needs to ask someone to help.

I will listen to people that know to pass information to me. Did you see an editorial? If so, send a link and I will post it. I do not doubt that she is hard working. But grassroots people want to see her fight across the district. I hear things are happening soon in East County for her. Is she planning to be at the Simi Valley Street Fair? That would be pretty cool.

I look forward to Hannah Beth Jackson running a public campaign and I did see she is scheduled to speak at the rally. I am not driving ( time, money, pollution) an hour each way to watch something I should be able to see on youtube.

Unless that is for children too.

Hannah-Beth is way ahead in this round. She isn't reinventing herself. She is busy will all the organizations she has always been with and is expanding her base of support. She has a great staff, her fundraising is ahead of schedule and she is attending many events. Strickland is having to redefine himself. One day he is a surfer dude, the next day he is an environmentalist. But,low and behold, it is all a bunch of bull. He is still a far right winger out to enrich himself from the public trough.

Brian, stay tuned. You will be seeing a lot more of Hannah-Beth in Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Moorpark.

HBJ is published every week on blogs read by Democratic political insiders throughout the state, but not the folks whose votes she will need in the district. I think she used to do a weekly thing on UCSBs radio station too. I do not know if she still does - as there is that tricky "equal time" thing that the FCC has and occasionally enforces. Tony gets an editorial in the local shopper? I guess that is something as some voters might read it.

HBJ has done at least one push poll that I am aware of, but it was a few months back and so I would not give her points on that this week. I don't know if Tony has done one or feels he needs to do so.

Facebook? I went to look at it and suddenly recalled the old science riddle: "If a tree falls in the forrest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?" Nice picture though: I actually like Hawaiian shirts as they definitely give other people the impression that you are totally relaxed and unworried. (However, the photo was obviously taken in Ventura and not Laheina. So, for being a bit less than totally authentic he loses the points that he might have gained for his editorial in the local shopper.)

Is Tony's campaign actually walking already or just talking about how they just telling everyone that they are in the process of organizing? There is no way that either side has enough enthusiastic supporters to put volunteer "feet on the street" in a district-wide effort even if they started now - although Tony appears to have the dollars to buy some walkers if he really felt he needed to do so.

HBJ? Information on her campaign efforts become more myth or speculation as you move south from the the Santa Barbara County line.

I still score it goose eggs for both; you are too easy on them, Brian.

TRUST Brian, trust!

I know you have Hannah-Beth's interests at heart. I appreciate that.

Facebook is cute but I like YouthNoise better. http://www.youthnoise.com/

The equal time rule isn't what most people assume. Read about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-time_rule

The district favors Republicans as of this moment. If Hannah Beth Jackson and Tony Strickland aren't running great campaigns that means he is winning. She can't just match him, she must do more then him.

If there are insider Democratic blogs writing about her send me a link.

Good Grief Marie!

"Trust!" is not the word that politicians should throw at voters or reporters when they running for office. To use that word is the height of arrogance on their part.

"Verify!" is the more practical for word that voters need to use with regard to politicians and reporters and the only one that has meaning in the end.

Brian has the interests of HIS READERS at heart and so he calls them as he sees them after looking at the evidence and hearing from ALL sides. That's why everyone - on both sides of the aisle or in the middle of the aisle - comes to his blog.

With this photo Tony Strickland is subconsciously telling us where the offshore LNG site will be built if he is elected. He probably sent the same picture to British Petroleum along with a donation slip.

Marie,

Compare the three campaigns and the amount of supporters on myspace they have added:

Barack Obama:
347,351
Hillary Clinton:
196,136
John McCain:
49,835

Which one of the three campaigns will the Hannah Beth Jackson team be the most like?

She needs to Crash the Gate.

"Are you having somebody monitor all the Santa Barbara County publications, too? How about their TV stations? Do you receive KEYT there in Simi? How about their local access channel? Ventura's access channel? Their local city blog? How do you know she hasn't placed an editorial somewhere and you haven't missed it?"

Here's some news for HBJ's campaign: 60% of the vote in the State Senate district in the last election did not come from Santa Barbara County and the clock is running.

She needs to get out more and make some new friends. (It is called campaigning!)

Harold, Brian out in Simi Valley does not have access to all the media in two counties. When I say "trust," I mean that he might have to trust that people are working hard doing their jobs even if they are not sending him press clippings, links and fund-raiser invitations. He doesn't have all the evidence, Harold, and that's my point.

Unless he is willing to hiring a clipping service.

I seem to be getting plenty of press clippings, links, and event details from the other campaign. They don't make people search for it. In fact, some of it shows up for free in our driveways!

Marie,

You are obviously a very devoted friend and supporter of HBJ and have her best interests at heart, but I have worked in a number of campaigns and learned that both the people (and the press) only give trust when they feel it is earned.

A candidate has to be willing to do what it takes to win (especially communicate!) or it is a sign that the campaign does not have the will or resources to do so. It is a fact attested to by the type of representation that we have now, that the voters would rather vote for one of current crop of ambitious flim flam artists or smiling empty suits than the most brilliant sounding gadfly or political dilettante who is too lazy or too scared - or simply unable - to do what it takes to win.

Let me make this clear: I do not wish to have Tony Strickland as my state senator. (I do not like having his wife as my assembly representative either!) He is very beatable, but time is running out and the alternative is to him is invisible for most voters at this point.

That is my message to HBJ.

I have worked in many campaigns - good and bad - and the good ones have all had one thing in common: the campaigns were proactive and convinced the voters that they were worthy of serious consideration. If a campaign is not in earnest, the voters, contributors and campaign workers would be better off if the candidate would retire to Sussex to keep bees.

I read Tony's idiotic piece in the Acorn, then I laid it down and my pit bull took a healthy one on it and that was actually and improvement!

I like how we wnt from assembly person in a blue suit with red tie. To the controller with his sleeves rolled up. To the wacky enviro beach guy. A true cameleon for all seasons.
Maybe he'll get some tye dye and run for something in Humbolt.

Facebook is a phenomenal communication tool. It isn't just about having "friends" but talking to people where they're accessible. I'm all the way out in DC, but I'm still in the loop as to Strickland events.

Marie,

Thanks for reading and thanks for a fine debate.

I'm glad to hear the support for Hannah-Beth. Harold, I don't think you'll have long to wait for your "evidence" of their earnestness. I've seen plenty of it already myself. This may be a geographical issue. Other than through this blog, I've seen no evidence that Strickland is doing anything, either. So that means the average voter out in West County who does not read this blog has likely seen nothing.

But many of us here and in S.B. County have heard from Hannah-Beth.

Please, everyone, come to the Rally for Our Children at 4 p.m. on Friday at Buena High School in Ventura, 5670 Telegraph Rd. We'll have lots of great speakers, including Hannah-Beth, Pedro Nava, Chuck Weis, Jill Martinez and State CTA Secretary Dan Vaughn.

Owen,
Word on the John "Dubya" McCain or better known as "Bush's third term" front is that he is strugling. Insider polls show him losing by 10 points in November. But no wonder, he said the other day he supports Bush's war in Iraq and he wants to keep us there for a 100 years at 12 billion a month, even though recent events show that Iraq is a complete disaster and all our tax dollars there have been wasted. McCain also wants to continue Bush's economic policies that have brought us record prices at the pump and have us on the edge of a depression! He wants to cut gas taxes for the period before the election only in order to garner votes and then he would let big oil stick it to us for another 8 years, just like Bush!

Given the political climate today, with an overwhelming majority of voters worried about the Economy, Health Care and a growing nationwide feeling that maybe the GOP's driven the country down the wrong path....doesn't Strickland have a lot of baggage to overcome in this election? If so, doesn't that handicap Strickland and give an advantage to Jackson?

Marie

I never said I was a supporter of HBJ. She is obviously a policy wonk, but I am unconvinced that she is much of a candidate which is a very different matter.

I would just like to see someone dump Strickland and his overlords onto the political scrap heap where they all belong.

We shall see!

Even though the election isn't until November you could have seen Hannah-Beth in Thousand Oaks at a fundraiser for the Hospice of the Conejo last December, at a meet & greet in February at a home in Lake Sherwood or speaking to the Democratic Club of the Conejo Valley at the Thousand Oaks Library last week.

You'll certainly be able to find her in the Conejo Valley Days parade in the morning and at the Democratic booth at Conejo Valley Days in the late afternoon of Saturday, May 3.

I think everyone will find that Hannah-Beth is one of the most dynamic and effective campaigners they've encountered, and you'll see plenty of her in the next 8 months.

Yeah, she better start showing her face in East Ventura County or she's cooked for sure. Nobody's heard of her out there!

As far as not seeing Hannah-Beth around, one has to wonder just where the author wants to see her. The District is quite large, yet I've run into twice in the last couple of weeks; once in Camarillo and once in Ventura. I heard she will be in Simi Valley in a couple of weeks and has been in Thousand Oaks several times recently.

By the way, I did look at how many pieces of legislation she authored in her Assembly tenure and how many Strickland authored during the same period. I counted nearly 70 for Jackson and 6 for Strickland. Of the 6 for Strickland, not one stood out as being significant, but someone please correct me if I may have missed one.

I suppose it will come down to this. If we think Bush has done a great job in running our Country, then we might vote for Strickland. If we think Bush has done a pretty poor job, then we will vote for Hannah-Beth. I like to keep things simple.

Yeah, it would be nice if it were that simple, CAP-811, but it isn't. Strickland will win because of high name recognition and his experience representing this District in Sacramento. Even if people are generally dissatisfied with the President, they tend to disassociate whoever's in the White House with their local representative, regardless of party affiliation. Look at how many times Gallegly has been reelected.

I've run into her twice in the last few weeks, too, CAP 812. And tomorrow she'll be giving a speech in front of hundreds of education supporters in Ventura.

I have heard she will be campaigning in Simi Valley in the next month. I look forward to a dynamic contest between her and her opponent. I have seen her in action and she might be one of the best campaigners Democrats have in the county.

True, true, true Mongo, my friend. Said, but true.
Brian, you are right on. Hannah-Beth knows how to win a race and she has a lot of friends willing to work with her.