I like Linda Parks. I think she has been a decent County Supervisor. I don't like her new ad. I know she is trying to introduce herself to more voters but I want her to discuss other issues besides her new independence from a political party.
Her Campaign for Congress has been devoid of issues beyond claiming to be a moderate and an independent. I want to know where she stands on issues. I understand she isn't a member of a party anymore but I don't know how she would vote in Congress.
But she could be running a brilliant strategy for this new top two primary where Democrats have been dividing their support behind multiple candidates.
I don't like her new ad.
Is she really not going to caucus with a party? If she doesn't join a party caucus she won't be on any committees. How effective of a legislator can someone be if they aren't on a committee?
Her new ad is on television which is something I haven't seen much of from other candidates. This add had 12,409 when I checked. That is massive for a Ventura County online ad. She is attracting far more attention than the other candidates.
Check out where many of the online views are coming from:
Democrats have been paying attention to her but I am not convinced they have a plan to stop her.
If Democrats want a candidate in the top two then Julia Brownley is going to need to run a great campaign.
Park's is doing exactly what she should be: making this a three-way race, rather than a race between Dems and Repubs. To do the later would be to virtually cede the top two slots to Brownley and Strickland.
She's doing more than making it a three-ay race. She's making it a two-way race - herself and Strickland.
She's been talking about the issues in the debates, on facebook and is the only one who has her positions listed on her website unlike Coming Soon for the other candidates. She's the only one I'm hearing from, period. Election day is less than 2 months away and the absentee ballots go out in less than 1 month. Julia still has virtually no name recognition in the majority of the district. Dropping 20 pieces of mail about her in the next few weeks isn't going to trump Linda's 15+ years of name recognition and multiple successful elections. This is a jungle primary, which means you have to run like it's the general. Going around to all the little Dem club meetings isn't going to cut it.
I'm not so sure it'll be between Parks and Strickland but the way she's set up the playing field means Parks will be one of the two in November. Great move!
BTW: I'm not in her district but I'll be supporting Parks in the primary.
See what happens when you get right of bed and start typing before the coffee's ready! I meant to say I'm not in her SUPERVISOR district.
I agree with "Run Linda Run!" Brownley doesn't have near the name recognition that Parks does and she is capitalizing on this by running TV ads, sending out really effective mailers, and putting her policy positions on her web site. She's already way out front of Brownley in this campaign because she's running like it's the general election, which is a very smart thing to do.
I haven't heard anything from Brownley yet. Is she even running or is her campaign just an illusion?
The Democrats would have been better served by getting behind Steve Bennett instead of disrespecting him like they did. He's not even supporting Brownley from what I hear and may throw his support behind Parks whom he has been a strong ally with her for years on the Board of Supervisors.
Go Linda:
The next 45-days of campaigning in the first ever top-two primary election for the 26th CD will prove to be a most interesting case-study regarding the clash of tribal identity politics in Ventura County.
Given the top-two Primary Election rules of engagement, and the fact that Tony Strickland is the only well-known and well-heeled Republican in the race, it is highly likely [although not certain] that he will emerge as one of the top two plurality winners on June 5th.
However, in my opinion, it remains to be seen which of the following political tribes (or combination thereof) exert the greatest political magnetism and centripetal force required to assemble a victorious plurality for the second spot: (1) partisan Democrats, (2) East-County suburban independent women, (3) West-County Latinos and/or (4) SOARistas.
My gut political instincts tell me that Strickland, Parks and Brownley are the chief contenders in the battle for the top two spots in June. However, with one-quarter of the voting age population in the Congressional District being Latino, depending on the degree of Latino political affinity, enthusiasm, and turnout actually demonstrated in Oxnard, El Rio, Port Hueneme and Santa Paula on June 5th, it is not inconceivable that Herrera gains one of the two brass electoral rings, due to Brownley and Parks significantly splitting and therefore diluting the value of East-County Democratic-leaning female independents and SOARista votes.
We shall just have to wait and see what the next six weeks brings.
Brownley 39%, Parks 38%, Thayne 13%, Herrera 6%, Strickland 4%.
Parks will win in the end and caucus with the Democrats in Congress, because the Repubs will make her puke once there.
Besides, everyone knows she already is a Dem except in name only to get elected in Thousand Oaks.
And what is up with that ice cream quip at the end?
Sure don't work for me; it is just weird.
VC-SB Polling Service:
Your purported 26th CD polling numbers are provocatively intriguing and discordantly suspect.
Post a citation reference of the source of your poll, as well as detailed cross-tab information, so that practioners might be able to independently peer review both its content and methodological context.
Absent such peer review, your polling results imply that: (1) Julia Brownley is currently underperforming Democratic registration in the district by 1%, (2) Linda Parks over performs total Independent registration by nearly 20%, and (3) Tony Strickland underperforms Republican registration by 31%.
Such polling numbers are highly suspect, especially since their contextual grounding is lacking. Please post a URL that would facilitate transparent, real-time, on-line peer review of your poll.
Final answer, VC-SB Polling Service????
Stricklanad - 32%
Parks - 28%
Brownley - 22%
Herrera - 10 %
Thayne - 8%
UPDATED
Brownley 42%, Parks 38%, Thayne 13%, Herrera 6%, Strickland 1%
Strickland - 32%
Parks - 28%
Brownley - 21%
Herrera - 10%
Thayne - 8%
Goldberg - 1%
UPDATED 4/20/12
Brownley 42.5%, Parks 38%, Thayne 13%, Herrera 6%,
Strickland 0.5%
Strickland - 34%
Parks - 26%
Brownley - 21%
Herrera - 10%
Thayne - 8%
Goldberg - 1%
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