I am posting pictures from the event on Twitter and on my Facebook page for this blog. Connect with me there and see how many of politicians you recognize.

( Here is Mary Pallant talking about the speaker series.)

Former candidate and current political activist Mary Pallant continues to bring in speakers to Ventura County.

Her latest is writer Robert Scheer on July 18th.

I appreciate candidates that do things locally to organize besides run for office.

Here is their email:

Hello Liberal Drinkers!

Here's the line up for July:

Wednesday, July 9th, 2008
7:00 PM
JJ Brewsky's
2433 Ventura Boulevard
Camarillo, CA

Topic discussion: Global warming and what we can do

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008
7:00 PM
JJ Brewsky's
2433 Ventura Boulevard
Camarillo, CA

Topic discussion: Media and censorship

We hope to see you at one of our upcoming events in July!
Drinking Liberally

Did you see McCain recently said he would veto every "beer"?

Of course I have my opinions on candidates and issues but this blog is open to different parties. If you want to have your event listed just send me an email.

The Democrats are putting more and more resources into Ventura County in a way I haven't seen before.

This Saturday a Barack Obama group is going to start registering voters in Moorpark once a week. Click here to get involved.

Also, a group called Work for Change is hiring many people to register voters across the county. Click on continue reading to see the details or go to the craigslist ad.

I recently posted Tony Strickland's ad to hire people too if you lean to the right more.

This campaign season is going to be the biggest battle in Ventura County history as far as I remember.

Do you remember this much intensity this long before any other election?

The Tony Strickland campaign has a new press release out touting their numbers of counter protesters and how much money they raised. It does not mention the few that took away from the many amongst the protesters on each side.

I am not vouching of the numbers of protesters on either side mentioned in the press release. I saw about 50 on each side.

Click on continue reading for the press release.

I know that I have my critics on both sides but is there any other blog that goes out of their way to post almost every event and press release by both sides?

I will continue adding more photos in the coming days but here are a few more.

These photos are from the shots taken by Greg "Flap" Cole, a conservative, center-right
blogger. Thanks. Click here to see more of his work. He comes across as bitter at times in his writing but in person he is much more charming. If you write your own blog feel free to leave comments with links back to your stuff.

This photo is my own. It shows the police questioning a Tony Strickland supporter after an altercation between him and a few Hannah-Beth Jackson supporters. After questioning the police agreed to file a citizen's arrest on him by the Hannah-Beth Jackson supporters but he asked and was told he could do the same as he claimed they roughed him up. When the two groups agreed to not arrest each other the police let everyone go. As they didn't directly witness the confrontation they had little evidence, except forthcoming videos including a video from a Hannah-Beth Jackson that was hard to review without audio and on a camera screen, to go on at the time. I am pretty sure there is more information coming out.

I talked to Louis Pandolfi before the protest and he said he let the police know they were coming but apparently the police on the beat didn't know and were not there until people from both sides called after there was an altercation. Both Strickland and Hannah-Beth Jackson supporters admit something happened but disagree on who did what.

The event helped raise a reported quarter of a million dollars which will go a long way in a campaign that the Strickland campaign has said will cost a total of $10 million dollars when all the expenses are added up from all the different groups.

After all the debate about tobacco money Mitt Romney said it was Tony Strickland that would help limit the influence of special interests. From now on I have a new rule. When a local politician says special interest we should insert the names of the interests.

Anyways, I will post a Hannah-Beth Jackson press releases later.

Thanks for leaving comments. I want to remind everyone that if you see a comment that goes way overboard in nastiness or gets too personal send me an email so I can take it down. On a busy day there can be 50 plus comments and I don't read through them all. I know that many of you don't or can't use your real names because of the type of work that you do. I understand that. But most people give more credit to someone that uses their real name. And all of us give more respect to a reasoned post that is fair to all sides instead of a screed. before you post try to think about if you are just screaming back at someone or trying to persuade them. If you are just yelling back remember that isn't how most arguments are won.

Thanks for reading and posting.

( How much do you expect we will be seeing Butt Man following Tony Strickland around? Rumor has it he might get his own Youtube channel.)

I was at the protest ( those against tobacco money in politics and in support of Hannah-Beth Jackson and/or Barack Obama) / counter protest ( those in favor of Mitt Romney, Tony Strickland, The VCRCC, and against Hannah-Beth Jackson ) outside the Tony Strickland event tonight and I have videos and pictures to share.

( Here is a video of Butt Man explaining why he dressed up as a cigarette to protest against The VCRCC and Tony Strickland for taking tobacco money)

I first want to thank all of those on both sides who stood up for their candidates and causes in a responsible manner. Don't allow a few hot heads to take away from everything else that happened. 99% of the people there were in good moods, shared their views fairly, and were there in a peaceful manner. We had a few laughs about why everyone gets excited by "Big tobacco" but "Little Tobacco" doesn't get any mention.

( Butt Man hanging out with some young Barack Obama supporters.)

When I pulled off of the freeway there was people already gathered to support Mitt Romney, Tony Strickland, and attacking "Taxin' Jackson" for also taking tobacco money through taking donations from those that have accepted donations from other people. Tony Strickland's group was rather large. I would estimate it was about 50 people outside the event but on the narrow sidewalk it was hard to get a good number. If you were there do you think I have the numbers right? I didn't get many pictures of them as they arrived earlier than I did and left earlier then the Hannah-Beth Jackson supporters.

The protesters assembled and walked up to the front of the hotel and that is when trouble started. One of Tony Strickland's supporters tried to stop the crowd that was about 30 strong at that point by claiming they had already called the entire sidewalk in front of the hotel. At least that's what I think he was trying to explain. I was in the back trying to get my new memory chip put in to my camera. Then allegedly the Tony Strickland supporter pushed / bumped into an older gentleman and a young lady. There exists multiple copies of either video of photos of the incident that I will be putting up over the next few weeks so you can decide for yourself what happened.

The Police were called as the older gentlemen was injured ( enough to be concerned but not serious enough for an ambulance) and the younger woman had a slight scratch from a nearby shrub.

The Police took witness statements for pretty much the rest of the protest from anyone and everyone involved or standing near. My friend Brian Mack gave the police a video copy of the incident after the police requested it and told him he could get it back in about a week . The police said they were going to arrest the Tony Strickland supporter for pushing people but the Tony Strickland supporter said it was in fact he who was the victim. He said the Democrats came after him. As the police did not witness the incident they said they could arrest both parties but cooler heads prevailed as organizers ( A campaign manager from Tony Strickland's side *I didn't catch the name. Email it to me and I will add his name in* and Louis Pandolfi who supports Hannah-Beth Jackson) from both sides agreed to save the police hours of paperwork and everyone was free to go back to waving their signs.

This is how The Star put a different incident with the same Tony Strickland supporter but a different protester:

The demonstrations outside the hotel drew Ventura County sheriff's deputies after a scuffle involving the chief of staff for Strickland's wife, Assemblywoman Audra Strickland, R-Moorpark. Joel Angeles was involved in a dispute with an opponent waving placards chiding Tony Strickland for accepting campaign contributions from tobacco companies. A heated verbal argument broke out between Angeles and Strickland opponents, which escalated to a physical tussle between Angeles and some of the protesters. Louis Pandolfi of Simi Valley, who organized the opposition demonstration, said he expected run-ins with supporters, but not as soon as they arrived.

This is the photo in The Star's story but it is not the same incident that drew the Police to file a report.

(Photo caption from The Star reporter's story: Dana Rene Bowler / Star staff Joel Angeles, center, the chief of staff for Assemblywoman Audra Strickland, gets into a tussle Tuesday night with Charles Harrington, right, of Simi Valley during a protest outside the Hyatt Westlake Hotel.

By the end of the protest I would guess there was about 50 people on each side. Is that about right? I was too busy arguing that the chances of someone being arrested when the crowd is filled only with partisan witnesses was pretty slim.

The protesters waved signs calling out Tony Strickland for taking tobacco money with a variety of lines on them. They also waved many Barack Obama signs too. I would guess that the average person driving up Westlake Blvd. hasn't been following the politics of tobacco money in Ventura politics but they recognize Barack Obama signs and gave a variety of responses as they drove by. The protesters were organized by a Hannah-Beth Jackson supporter, Louis Pandolfi, from Simi Valley and included people from across Ventura County including Democratic activists, college students, and others. The young Republicans were convinced that people were paid to be there to protest against them. I didn't see any of that and I am pretty sure that the only form of exchange was maybe Butt Man getting a free meal for dressing up.

Once the police were called and they were notified of the problems with their supporter Tony Strickland's campaign staff ( you know who you are!) did a great job of keeping their side away from the other side.

For anyone organizing any sort of protest one suggestion I have is to keep the two sides separate and out of each others' faces. You aren't there to argue with the other side. Don't have someone walk through the other side for fun and not expect weeks of arguing about who started it or who did what first. How about next time the organizers call each other and divide the areas so as to keep people away from each other? If your candidates are promising to work across the aisle I am sure your staff members or supporters can call each other and work something out. What do you say? One group of protesters on each side of the street sounds fair.

I didn't see it and neither did most of you. So, don't assume to know what happened without seeing proof. I will post the tapes as they come into me.

State Assembly candidate Ferial Masry was in attendance. I know her son Omar Masry on a personal level so when she told me someone called her a terrorist ( Ferial is Muslim and was born in Saudi Arabia) I took it pretty serious as calling a Muslim a terrorist sounds like a racial slur to me. I walked up w/ video and asked Ferial to ask him to say what he said again and make it a leading question like " say what you said again, please" but by then another Strickland supporter caught wind and said they had no comment. I wanted to allow the man a chance to clarify himself, admit it, or deny it so it wouldn't become another incident without proof. Later, someone else said they were called a terrorist too but they were of European descent so it sounds like over heated political talk and not much else. But I wasn't a witness to it so I don't want to make too much out of it or vouch for exactly what was said.

The protests ended peacefully with both sides making their point. Tony Strickland's supporters, many of which were dressed in suits, and Hannah-Beth Jackson's supporters chanted in support of their candidate and against tobacco money or hypocrisy.

And last but not least the best video of the night can be found by clicking here. Turn on your speakers loud as it is hard to hear.

( Police officers viewing one of the tapes of the shoving incident. I will post the tape if I can get a copy when the police give it back to the owner of it. Will it be the biggest let down since Al Capone's vault or a little more exciting? )

I maintain my earlier argument that the campaign money from tobacco, because it is so unpopular, isn't worth giving your opponents a campaign issue.

So, did you attend the event inside? How was it? I haven't seen many reports but this is what The Star said why Mitt Romney explained he supports Tony Strickland:

"I believe Tony Strickland can cut back on wasteful spending and can remove the interest of special interests and bring new ideas to Sacramento," Romney said in an interview before the event.

Is there any mistakes in my report you think I should correct? Let me know by email or by leaving a comment and I will look into it. I am sure there are many things that I missed. I tried to report as much as I could and be as fair as possible to both sides. If there is more to include to reach that goal give me some feedback.

The event was expected to raise up to $200,000 for Tony Strickland's campaign.

Judging by the early returns in the news cycle who won the media battle outside?

On John McCain's website there is a section of campaign gear you can purchase that have an environmentalist theme to them. Even though some far right critics attacked him for it and said he would not earn green votes for his efforts ( I do know one young environmental activist that is a Republican but the environment is her focus. Being Green keeps people like her from shifting their support to candidates like Barack Obama.) I believe it is a major change in American politics.

It appears as though George W. Bush will be the last anti-environmental president. Republican and Democratic leaders agree that climate change is real and human influenced. They also agree that actions needs to be taken.

( Tony Strickland and Hannah Beth Jackson agree climate change is real and human influenced. Kind of reminds me of this odd couple.)

In our area Tony Strickland is trying to show that he is an environmentally friendly candidate. He has spoken many times about his company, GreenWave Energy Solutions, and their effort and exploring more alternative energy sources.

His critics will attempt to claim the whole thing is a greenwash attempt. That he voted against the policy preferences of all the prominent environmental groups while he was int he state assembly. They also ridicule his company because it doesn't have a product, a profit, or even revenue beyond investment capital.

All of that may or may not be true.

But what is true is more important. The day when environmental protections only came from one party are over. To be an anti-environmentalist isn't going to be effective any longer.

The new debate is over what party has better ideas on the ways in which we provide for our energy security and protect our environment. The battle of ideas has shifted over. Republicans are quickly trying to get green as many of them distance themselves from past policies and statements.

Remember this one from Ronald Regan?

Republicans will not go back to Ronald Reagan's statements that show him at odds with environmentalists, but instead they will argue that their free market solutions will be a better way of protecting the environment.

Democrats will have to make the case that Republicans are not serious in their new found devotion and that their policies will be ineffective. But the middle has shifted and the new debate has been set.

The campaigns locally have already started adapting to this new world. Tony Strickland's campaign sent out a press release touting an award from a political wing apparently of The United Chamber of Commerce to his energy company.

Expect Hannah Beth Jackson's campaign to be critical of his voting record, his plans, and his company. Expect them to be critical of the award. But don't expect the environment to be an issue that only one party attempts to win votes off anymore.

For the Republican Party as a whole it will take more than an election cycle or set of candidates to gain voter trust but they won't be giving up.

Click on continue reading to see the press release about Tony Strickland's Award.

I know Moorpark city council member Keith Millhouse has been a strong advocate of working together to address climate change but has anyone seen a statement that shows where Elton Gallegly stands on the issue?

County Supervisor Peter Foy ( Peter, if you want to clarify and extend your remarks I will post them on the front page) is isolated as a part of the old guard that denies the earth is heating up at all. In the future there will be more Republicans like Arnold Schwarzenegger ( check out the Green theme to his website as he moves beyond the Republican Party), John McCain, Newt Gingrich, and if he is successful Tony Strickland.

Put another point on the scoreboard for Team Strickland.

( See the bottom of this vote for the update.)

The Star's Timm Herdt had a short piece up about analyzing the election results between Hannah Beth Jackson and Tony Strickland.

Here is his analysis:

By Timm Herdt:

June 4, 2008
Jackson-Strickland: Not head-to-head, but...

In anticipation of the most competitive partisan political campaign Ventura County has seen in more than 20 years, partisans on both sides were watching Tuesday's results to see which of two unopposed candidates got the most votes.

It is a meaningless number, since at least two and a half times as many voters will participate in November's election as voted yesterday, but still... It's something to talk about.

So here's what happened:

Republican state Senate candidate Tony Strickland pulled in 50,756 votes.
Democratic state Senate candidate Hannah-Beth Jackson got 47,825.

Advantage Strickland?

Republican Central Committee Chairman Mike Osborn thinks so. "Last night sends a message," Osborn told me this afternoon. "Tony's showing yesterday is going to cut off some of the money Hannah-Beth was expecting."

What it shows is that turnout ran about according to registration, but -- as is typically the case in low-turnout elections, Republicans voted a little more reliably than Democrats. Republicans hold a 2 percentage-point edge in the district, and Strickland got about 3 percent more of the combined Republican and Democratic votes.

In November, there will be a lot more Republicans and Democrats casting ballots -- and a whole lot more independents.

"You saw her strong support, you saw our strong support," Osborn said. "I think my guy will win over more independents."

For comparison, consider that in 2004 -- a higher turnout primary -- 169,765 votes were cast in the district in June. That November -- likely a lower turnout general election that this year's will be -- 384,450 ballots were cast.

Before you comment you should know something. Timm is spelled with two M's. If you spell it wrong he gets angry. I spelled it wrong early in my blogging career and he broke my keyboard over his knee and threw it at an educator and an alternative energy executive.

For legal reasons I am required to tell you that was a joke. But really, it is two M's.

Timm, seriously why didn't you quote somebody from Hannah Beth Jackson's campaign? Did they not call you back before the deadline for the story?

I think the night shows an advantage to Tony Strickland but at this point he is the front runner. He is the strongest campaigner in this area. But I expect Hannah Beth Jackson is readying some great tactics. Her campaign includes veterans that have worked successfully to defeat him before.

What do you think? Should anything be read from the results?

UPDATE: The Hannah Beth Jackson team has emailed me final numbers from Santa Barabra County and if these are the final numbers they have reason to celebrate.

Here is their email:

Santa Barbara just released its final vote tally which has increased my vote count in SB to 25870 to 18943 for Strickland.In other words, Hannah-Beth received 6927 more votes in SB than he did.... (previously the figure was just about a 6,000 differential.So the final tally (per the Secty of State's website this morning shows:

Strickland 53,655Jackson 51,513
Differential of only 2,142 or just about 1,000 less than the previous calculation......
You may want to update your post on the primary turnout.

Does this mean the people that made a point out of the primary results admit Hannah Beth Jackson has an advantage?

Sandy Emberland, Francis Okyere, Penny Strowger, George Corbin & Sylvia Navarro.

This Tuesday party members not only vote in their primaries but we also vote for the leaders of our local party.

The group above is running as a team to represent Democrats on the central committee. To read the list of all the candidates click here.

If you are planning to vote in this contest what questions do you have for the candidates?

If you are running for a seat on your central committee send in a statement and I will post it.

My first question:

Do you believe Hillary Clinton should drop out or take it to the convention if she is behind in total delegates next week?

Not a big surprise but Tony Strickland's campaign will be out this weekend. Click on continue reading for details. His campaign sure does many precinct walks. Do you think precinct walks are as effective as they once were? I do know that it shows a campaign has energy behind it.

Have you seen Hannah Beth Jackson's campaign doing anything new recently? She was in Simi Valley speaking to a large group of supporters as they started to organize a local contingent on her behalf.

Her Myspace page is growing quickly.

Tony Strickland uses Facebook only. If you use it you know how to find him.

It looks like McCain has a youtube problem. Celebrating your birthday during Katrina? Forgetting what you said? Getting corrected by Lieberman? Against/for Bush's tax cuts? The economy is worse/better? Baghdad is safe? He is doing a poor job of energizing creative web users.

In an effort to moveon past the primaries local Barack Obama supporters are announcing their organizational meetings and plans for this summer.

Click on continue reading for details.

How come no Hillary Clinton or John McCain supporter is announcing any local events?

Where is the Myspace, Meet Up, or other websites for them? I have seen a couple start some effort but not really put something out there.

Barack Obama team wants to win all across the United States of America. It is tough to do from a campaign HQ but much easier when you inspire people to rise up to take control over the government again.

This might have a powerful impact on other campaigns. Democrats will be coordinating resources to GOTV and amplify their message. Republicans will be lead by the Strickland campaign. Tony has been a very effective campaigning in the past but a GOTV by one candidate might be really tough. Maybe Tony and Elton will team up.

If your group has events coming up email me the details.

( If I was on a board I would consider every school playing this on the last day. Maybe not.)

Is your local School Board interesting or boring? Would you rather have it the other way?

A maxim has been attributed to the Chinese as "May you live in interesting times". Read this interesting article for insight on the quote.

The top three school boards that attract the most political attention include Conejo, The County Board, and Camarillo.

To read an update on Camarillo schools click on continue reading. Otherwise consider this an open thread about local schools.

My suggestion: Instead of slagging people down tell us who you really want to run again for a school board seat or who you want to run for their first time as a school board member.

Nominate someone!