Kyle Quiroz, the co-creator of the most viral video for a local candidate in Ventura County, nominated a fellow supporter of Steve Sojka. Team Sojka didn't win in the end but they put together a great campaign. Here is Kyle's nomination:

I would like to nominate Kevin Underwood who did so much for Steve Sojka's campaign. Although Sojka did not win, Underwood coordinated events by emailing updates and helping to manage the Run Steve Run facebook page. He was there through everything. From precinct walks to street corner rallies, and he stayed there until the end of the campaign party. For someone who's not even related to Steve he did a heck lot more than a lot of us. That's why I nominate Kevin Underwood for an award. Kyle Quiroz

Are you frustrated with people disguising their party affiliation on slate mailers? In the last cycle I have seen Republican candidates supported by their party pay to be included on slate mailers that appear to be from Democrats. Local Democratic candidates have done it too. To purposefully attempt to mislead voters while claiming to be running a honest campaign is a tough task.

If you want to do something the local Democratic Party would like your help. I have copies of most of the mailers if you need to include them with your letter.

I am glad the Ventura County Democratic Party is organizing this letter writing campaign. Here is their request:

Demand Truth in Political Advertising: Send an Email to the FPPC Now!

You see them cluttering your mailbox every election cycle. If you're like many California voters, you may even have been fooled by them: deceptive slate mailer advertisements that are meant to trick voters and hide the big money, special interests who pay for them.

Using patriotic pictures of eagles and made-up names like the "Voting Information Guide for Democrats," they fool many unsuspecting voters into thinking they are actually reporting official Democratic Party endorsements, when in fact space on these mailers is often sold to the highest bidder -- in some cases giant oil, insurance, and utility companies! These purported Democratic mailers often take take positions that are the exact opposite of the Democratic Party's values.

MANY GOOD INITIATIVES AND CANDIDATES, INCLUDING PROPOSITION 15, THE CALIFORNIA FAIR ELECTIONS ACT, HAVE LOST IN PART DUE TO DECEPTIVE SLATES.

We urge you to send a letter now asking for serious reform of deceptive slate mailers!

California's Fair Political Practices Commission now has a Political Reform Act Task Force that is collecting public comments on reforms of the rules governing slate mailers. The Ventura County Democratic Party has joined groups like California Clean Money Campaign and California Common Cause to ask for SERIOUS slate mailer disclosure reform to put an end to these deceptive practices.

The proposals would institute truth in slate advertising by requiring non-official Democratic Party slate mailers to:

* Clearly say they are "NOT the Official Slate of a Democratic Party Organization" wherever they use the word "Democrat" or "Democratic" Party.
* Identify right under the title when they are "Paid Political Advertising."
* Make absolutely clear that the listings are "Paid" endorsements everywhere paid endorsements are shown and indicate who is actually paying for them.

THE FPPC NEEDS TO HEAR FROM ACTIVE MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC LIKE YOU!

Send a letter asking for serious reform of deceptive slate mailers now!

Our easy letter-writing tool will provide you a draft letter that includes the Ventura County Democratic Party's recommendations. (See the rest of our recommendations when you send the email!)

Thanks for everything you do for clean money and fair elections,

Richard Carter, Chairman,
Ventura County Democratic Party

This is an open discussion entry. What's on your mind today? Post your predictions for local, state, and federal races in the comments section. You don't have to register to comment but keep it classy.

You can post and view last minute campaign photographs to facebook.com/briandennerthere .

After the elections are over I am asking candidates to submit nominations for the 2010 Ventura County campaign volunteer awards. There will be awards given for local races, state races, and federal races. There will be Republican and Democratic winners for partisan races.

Please send a picture and a couple of paragraphs to briandennert@yahoo.com to nominate some worthy campaign volunteers.

Streaming election results can be viewed by clicking here Tuesday night after 8PM.

I have been running a contest for my readers to submit Where in Ventura County pictures that include pictures of their signs in an interesting location. Here are the winners:

Most on message photograph:

Honorable Mention:

Best essence of Ventura County:

Honorable Mention:

Fan Favorite (Determined by unscientific online poll results):

Click on continue reading for the other pictures.

Steve Sojka supporter Kyle Quiroz has released another music video supporting Steve Sojka. His last music video went viral and has the most views for a youtube video supporting a Ventura County politician.

It has been a long campaign for Mayor of Simi Valley and both sides should be credited with invigorating democracy in Simi Valley. I am glad so many people connected with the campaigns and compelling issues were brought to the attention of the voting public. Simi Valley was well served by this contested election.

I have been updating the Facebook page for my blog with mailers, pictures, and observations. You can upload your pictures of mailers and campaign events there. I won't be attending any parties for mayor tomorrow night but it would be great if fans helped preserve history by uploading them to my facebook page.

Here are the lyrics:

Kyle Quiroz (yeah man) So we back at the polls Everyone's getting ready to choose a side (choose a side) Glad Sojka joined the run It's time to bring this city back to life (back to life) twelve years, Sojka's been on the council for twelve years. Experience, you know he's got it There's no truth anymore Don't start to believe all those lies, lies, lies, lies Cause baby tonight, Sojka's taking over the election Yeah, baby tonight, Sojka's taking over the election. So vote, vote, because you help, help, decide who wins, wins Gotta make it right Cause baby tonight, Sojka's taking over the election Sojka's a family man He's going to make crime rates go down, down, down, down, down, down Business man involved in sports He knows what it's like to serve this town, town, town, town, town New jobs, He'll work on bringing in high paying jobs Still supports local business The Arroyo Greenway They'll be nothing but sunny, skies, skies, skies, skies Cause baby tonight, Sojka's taking over the election Yeah, baby tonight, Sojka's taking over the election So vote, vote, because you help, help, decide who wins, wins Gotta make it right Cause baby tonight, Sojka's taking over the election Come on (no lies) Lets keep it clean Debates get mean So keep it clean Good luck Huber Some people getting fed up Like a red pup But I'm repping Jesus So I keep my head up Ha Keeping Simi's parks and schools clean and nice You know freedom isn't free, still comes with a price Ha, finish freeway widening, don't stop Simi Valley pshh, on top Abra kadabra zoom Magic won't fix this economic gloom You need a true leader But that you knew, November two you know what to do Cause baby tonight, Sojka's taking over the election Yeah, baby tonight, Sojka's taking over the election So vote, vote, because you help, help, decide who wins, wins Gotta get it right Cause baby tonight, Sojka's taking over the election Yeah, baby tonight, Sojka's taking over the election So vote, vote, because you help, help, decide who wins, wins Gotta make it right So vote, vote, because you help, help, decide who wins, wins Yeah, thank you Simi

Click on continue reading for his Simi Valley State of Mind Music video.

Republican State Assembly candidate Jeff Gorell has received orders to deploy to Afghanistan. Here is the Ventura County Star news story with the details.

If this had come up earlier in the campaign it would be a serious issue for discussion. But at this date all I have to add is my hopes for Jeff Gorell, his family, and other members of our armed forces. The war in Afghanistan is full of difficult questions. This election should remind us of the consequences of our choices.

Jeff Gorell and Ferial Masry have run a classy campaign against each other. I have high hopes for the winner of this race and look forward to Jeff Gorell returning to Ventura County.

Click here to read the details from his campaign.

Click on continue reading for Jeff Gorell's announcement and the reaction from his opponent, Ferial Masry.

Many candidates pay to be included on targeted slate mailers. Sometimes they are deceptive, like when a Republican Simi Valley City Council Member pays to be included on a mailer with the headline: Voter Information Guide for Democrats. That's okay as she helped to fund a mailer for all of the Democrats listed that did not pay!

If there is an asterisk next to a candidate's name that means they paid to be included on the slate mailer. The best I have seen is when conservative Democratic Party Republican Party leader Audra Strickland paid to be on a mailer with John F. Kennedy on it. Audra Strickland is a proud conservative Republican. Her inclusion on that mailer doesn't reflect her voting record.

The endorsement of a party allows access to resources for a candidate including databases of voters, inclusion on official slate mailers, invitations to events, being put on the agenda to speak to party club meetings, and more.

Because of the great campaigns being put on by many proud Democrats like Nathan Sweet, Bob Rust, Marie Panec, and more I expect that Democrats will come out as winners in Ventura County this week. They won't win every contest but they will have a deeper bench of leaders after the ballots are counted.

Did you see the story of the Royal High School students that put a giant inflatable ape, taken from a local car dealership, on the roof of the MPR? I was sitting at a candidates forum when I posted on my blog's Facebook page a post about Mr. Pickles, the big blue ape. Apparently, my readers were interested in what the candidates thought about the prank.

The car dealership was more than pleased with all of the free publicity and no damage was done to the school. With that in mind I asked School Board candidate Jeanne Davis her thoughts on the incident. Here is her reply:

I will post the reply from any of the other candidates that choose to respond.

You might say this is a pointless issue. But so is asking about vouchers, when it isn't anything the Simi Valley School Board deals with.

This is the final week for my Where in Ventura County Contest. Campaigns send in pictures for my readers to guess where they are located. There will be very small prizes for the person that guesses the most locations and for the campaign with the best photograph. So far my favorite is Jason Hodge's because of the location. Alan Barkwill is the reader with the most accurate guesses.

I will give you a clue for this entry. It isn't in Simi Valley. Thanks to the Mashburn supporter for sending it in. Keith Mashburn is running a strong campaign to replace one of the two incumbents on the Simi Valley City Council.

Click on continue reading for past entries. Scroll through the archives to post a guess. You don't need to register to comment.

( With all the negativity between the campaigns this video should remind people about what unites us.)

Steve Sojka's field commander Kevin Underwood sends out regular updates with events for supporters to attend. Click on continue reading to see the latest.

I included this message Kevin sent me as an example to other candidates on how to organize field operations for a local campaign. Team Huber is doing similar things this weekend. I expect the street corners and freeway overpasses will be crowded this weekend.

What's your favorite last weekend campaign event?

I read this post and the comments on it on the Simi Valley Facebook Page. You can go read it by going to that page and scrolling down the page.

I know that parties and activists want to promote people they agree with because candidates for one office might run for another office later. But I don't find this issue compelling in the race for mayor of Simi Valley. Do you?

I do find it interesting to learn how people make their decisions on local candidates.

The Simi Valley / Moorpark Democratic Club had a candidates forum last night and Tim Allison spoke to the crowd. After his speech he took questions from the audience including a question on what he would do to stop the Tea Party agenda. This was his response:

I was surprised that Tim Allison didn't take this chance to fire up a Democratic crowd. When a politician avoids taking the easy path that impresses me.

I was also sent this video of Tim Allison speaking at an event recently:

Democratic Congressional candidate Tim Allison mentioned my observation that he has more signs up in Simi Valley than any Democrat has had in more than a decade. I'm flattered to have been quoted in his stump speech. Tim Allison is doing his best to challenge UnRepresentative Elton Gallegly. Taking on an incumbent with a large financial advantage is admirable and I appreciate that Tim Allison is doing it.

If you are interested in a great political documentary about the powers of incumbency I suggest you watch the film Street Fight about Cory Booker and Newark, New Jersey. It is my favorite political documentary.

I am not comparing Gallegly to Sharpe James but I do understand that incumbency is very powerful.

I uploaded pictures from the candidates forum to my Facebook page for my blog:
facebook.com/briandennerthere Please go there and hit the like button.